GJ Gillespie Art: All Stitched Up Submission

REJECT REJECT REJECT REJECT REJECT
See my post "Three Tips for dealing with Art Show Rejection."

Postmodern Ancient Figures by G J Gillespie

Submitted to the All Stitched Up Show at the University of Puget Sound.

POST SCRIPT: This submission was rejected. Am I bitter? See my post "Three Tips for dealing with Art Show Rejection."

160 pages in an extra large Leda stitched sketchbook with the theme of ancient Greek and Roman art including Japanese Anime, haiku, poems, song lyrics, famous quotes and collaged material.

8.5 x 12 inches. $320 for art book.

Pages are deformed with ink spray, coffee and tea, natural clay, shellac and graphite shavings.

Many images are transfers onto the page of other sketches that I have made in museums around the country. The book includes original sketches and sketches inspired by famous artists.

As owner and founder of Leda Art Supply, I designed the Leda sketchbooks -- now one of the top ranked art journal companies in the world.

Collaged Notebook of Postmodern Ancient Figures

by GJ Gillespie. Filling an Extra Large Leda sketchbook.

Named by the New York Times Magazine as the "Best sketchbook for artists."

Shellacked Nike

ABOUT THE SHOW
The sketchbook show is sponsored by the University of Puget Sound in the Seattle area. From the Call to Artists page:

“To stitch is to join together, to mend, or fasten as with stitches – to sew. To stitch is to bring together fabric, paper, wounds of the body, or cultural divides. Stitching can be an act of healing, hope, practicality, creativity, and revolution. All Stitched Up recognizes and celebrates the work of book artists’ where stitching has become an integral part of the visual design."

Achilles and Torres Fighting, one sketch at
Santa Barbara Museum of Art and the other two years later
at the Getty in Santa Monica where the statue was moved for a show.
Transfer with watercolor.

Shellacked Amazon's fighting

My painting of Atlas, transferred to sketchbook.

Discus Thrower on Anime

Greek Kurios Statue painting by GJ Gillespie.
Transferred to sketchbook.

Transferred sketch of ancient figure.
Coffee stained paper.

SUBMISSION CONCEPT
I’ve been working on this project for three months, filling my Extra Large Leda art journal with sketches, song lyrics, quotes, poems and collages. Almost all of the 160 pages are graced with images front and back.

(I designed the Leda books, too, so it is neat to submit art made in my own brand of sketchbook.)

ANCIENT GREECE BIRTHPLACE OF WESTERN ART
The Leda sketchbook gets its name from ancient Greek mythology. Zeus fell in love with the beautiful Leda and wooed her by turning himself into a magic swan.

I chose to fill the XL Leda art journal with images related to ancient Greece -- the birthplace of western art. I included photocopies and transfers of sketches I’ve made of Greek and Roman Statues at various museums over the years (LA County, Getty, Santa Barbara, and Art Instituted in Chicago).

I also added original sketches and transfers of images taken from art history books (because photocopied images are changed from the original when collaged copyright copyright is covered) as well as gluing reduced photocopies of some of my paintings.

Collaged figures

Transferred sketch and Anime.

Transferred sketch of Greek Kurios Status

Made at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art

Icon with gold tissue halo.

My painting of Greek Kurios Statue transferred to page.

Kurt Cobain portrait by GJ Gillespie.

Transfers with watercolor and silver paint.

Male and Female statues transfers with watercolor

Shellacked Nike and transferred statue.

Sketch of Nike by GJ Gillespie. Rock lyrics by the Status Quo.

WEIRD AND WONDERFUL
To add some over the top creativity I paired the Greek art with collaged Japanese Anime. Somehow the Japanese designs and figures seem to fit the show theme of bringing cultures together.

Meshing Greek and Japanese images creates what literary critic Kenneth Burke calls, “Perspective by incongruity”.

CREATING ANCIENT ARTIFACT
Following the advice of my art instructor Larry Calkins, I began by messing up each page with ink spray and washes, coffee, tea, natural clay and even shellac to give the book the look and feel an ancient artifact.

GJ Gillespie Roman statue and Christian Frieze

Shellacked figures on clay.

Shellacked sketch of statue.

Shellacked Roman statue and collaged dog

Zeus casting lightning bolt

Female torso sketch collage

Sketch of Zeus at Getty Malibu and sketch of bust from Athens.

Transferred sketch of statue at Philadelphia Museum of Art

Transfer with watercolor and silver paint.

Roman bust transfer.

Transfer on inked page.

Nike and Dying Gall transfer with silver paint.

Transferred sketch of statue on ink sprayed page.

Greek statue sketch on Anime.

Ancient torso from the Chicago Art Institute
transferred to page with bleed through.

Transfer with watercolor.

Shellacked figure, Transfer with watercolor.

Collaged figures

Trojan Horse after Dali, Lyrics of All Along the Watchtower.

Transfer of Discus Thrower and his Dog by GJ Gillespie

Zeus

Zeus from Getty Malibu and Kurios Statue.

Kurios statue.

Nike made of collaged fashion model and transferred Parthenon figure.

Mixing Japanese and Greek imagery.

Photocopy of collage that won award
and sold at the Roslyn Art Fair.

Collage and sketch of Getty statue.

Photo copy of portrait of ancient Greek statue.

Work based on ancient Greek urn art of Achilles fight Hector
with copies transferred directly onto the paper.

Copy of my Collage of Prometheus Bound.
This titan gave fire to humans. Zeus chained him to a rock on a distant island.
A giant eagle comes each day to eat his liver. Then it regrows each night.

Son of the Sun God Helios,
Phaeton stole and crashed the chariot of the sun.

Reduce copy of my painting Phaeton Falling.

Wild Woman by GJ Gillespie. A reduced copy.
Inspired by Picasso's Ladies of Avignon, this composition
references northwest native art instead of African masks.