A collage is a thing in itself, but to reconsider further, it is also a form of currency, a medium for transaction, negotiating thought and information – a negotiation that proposes a new ideal or platform, perhaps?

In Old is the New New, an engaging array of collages are made from gathered materials seemingly selected at will but are all eventually adjudged as having relevance to the artist’s person and his modes of production. Apparent are pictorial paraphernalia extracted from both high and low culture, from art history and the commonplace, and collateral debris from the artist’s studio and / or the aftermath of an exhibition hanging – these are among the various parts that find their way and give sum to the collages.

In the exhibition, the intent for the collage medium shuffles to and fro, but ultimately gives to revealing the intrinsic magic of making a mix of disjointed images. A collage is a thing in itself – and the artist’s job is to activate images and to play host or, in Duchamp terms, a gentleman-suitor who attends to the whims and desires of his bride and muse, Art. As such, there is a balance of absence the artist plays, knowing when to extricate from further intervention and thus, protecting the integrity of the images. For the latter, a collage is a form of currency; it is a medium perhaps in the vein of Beuy’s conclusive remark: it gives form to the thought processes, biases, and guile of the artist. The collages here are on the verge of portraying a story or expressing an opinion, seen in pictorial suggestions in the guise of strategic puzzles and gamesmanship.

The exhibition title, Old is the New New, suggests a few viable themes.  An interesting one is the prospect of looking back – perhaps an attempt to make sense of the pervading artistic plurality and its implications: a sifting through the rubble and layers of cultural history, if you will. It is highly suggestive of a mode of thinking referred to as “anchoring,” a process of looking for the familiar by harkening to the past, in order to understand the current and immediately contemporary – this is probable given the image data in the collages in the exhibition that feature standard art bearers of Western painting jostled vis-à-vis items and toy objects from one’s childhood.

In another sense, the title may give hint to the artist’s regard for contemporary painting in relation to painting’s long and tested history. How does the contemporary practice match-up with the past and its significant masters? These are possible questions posed. All in all, the aesthetic pronounced in the works is consistent with the altruistic and didactic aspects of the artist’s persona. These works are more than the extension of the artist’s marked outputs, but are gems in their own right, reflecting rightfully the manners of, and the stance the artist bravely takes in pushing for and consolidating a new standard.