Tango Collage Suitcase Show & Sale: July 22 at Triangulo, NYC

Next Friday July 22, from 4:30 to 8:30 pm I will be presenting another Suitcase Show & Sale. It will be held at the Afternoon Milonga at Triangulo, which is hosted by Maura and Richard. My tango collages and I will be ensconced in a corner of the room, some on the wall, and some in the antique suitcase I use for transportation and display.  All the collages are one of a kind. The prices range from $50 to $75. The Afternoon Milonga at Triangulo is my regular hangout on a Friday night and I'm so excited about sharing my art with all the friends I've made there.

This will be the second time I am bringing my collages directly to the NYC tango community. The first time was at the invitation of Anthony Blackwell. He asked me to show my work at his Monday night milonga, Casa de Tango. I was pleased to share my tango art with a tango audience, people I dance with  and talk to every week, but who  have no idea what else I do. Our conversations throughout the evening were about hand and feet positions, the importance of the embrace, and their own creative endeavors involving tango. They got the work in a way that my artist friends don't.

my setup at Casa de Tango

table with unfinished collages in my studio (fig tree outside window)

I've been furiously creating in the studio in the intervening time since the Casa show. I've been rummaging around in drawers, pulling out "bad" prints and partial prints that had the germ of an idea but were never developed. As I am thinking in terms of building a collage, these pieces look more like inspired jumping off points than failures.

I'm also doing new drawings, based on recent photos I've taken at Volvo Tango on the Christopher Street pier. That early evening milonga gives me a rare opportunity for  some well-lit photos of dancers.  I recycle images ad nauseam, giving myself permission to do that when I saw how Rauschenberg used the same images over and over, always making them fresh. Now I feel I've reached the point of saturation for the current set of images I've been using, so I want to refresh them with a whole new set.

(c)2011 Denise Mumm      
new drawing 

I'll make xeroxes of the drawings and then take them to the Noble Maritime Collection and use their etching press to crank out a series of paper lithograph images to use in collages. You can check out my website to see a series of process photos explaining the paper lithography process denisemumm.com . The website shows some pictures of finished collages like the small ones I am working on now. I am also selling the small collages at my Etsy shop DeniseMummArt

The Noble museum has been very welcoming, allowing me to use their press in between children's classes. When I go there, I bring along a variety of papers, some patterned, some colored. I also bring a lot of extra images, including some that are just patterns. The patterns I will print onto other patterned papers to use in building translucent layers, or onto a background surface to use as the bottom layer that will be built upon. I usually print for several hours and I never know what direction the session will take, so I try to come prepared for spontaneity, whether it comes from inspiration or failure.

I still have lots of collages to finish, mat, label and package for Friday, so I'd better get back to the studio!