Raw Material Waiting to be Reimagined
Collages by James Earl White
These three collages came into the archives in 2021. The archives contains a number of works by James Earl White from the last several years. When I once asked White for an artist bio this is what he sent me…
"Moline [Illinois] start, 1 shy of bicentennial. 8 surgeries, 3 siblings, 2 parents, regular displacement as prescribed to artistic behaviors."
as raw, inscrutable and mysterious as his collage works can be.
In these three collages a common thread is the use of art illustrations as the basis and inspiration of the collages. White’s contribution is the intervention and disruption of the original reproductions with other bits and pieces from other reproductions to come up with his own original collage. Perhaps a form of historical revisionism?
From White’s website at jamesearlwhite.com
“In my life I have felt both as a disabled child and as an artist that I had to adjust myself for others. As a reaction to that I have turned that outwards and changed my surroundings to make sense to me.” - Jim White
Born with hydrocephalus, collage artist Jim White’s life has been profoundly affected by surgery, medical implants, cascading diagnoses, hospitalizations and disability. His practice reenacts the trauma of having tissue surgically removed and medical augments added, but his compositions transform the violence into something smart, funny, offbeat, and playful. Images from art books are cut, torn, recombined, and pinned onto cork board creating dozens of piercings/perforations before the final composition is glued into place. By smashing together reproductions of historically important art in unexpected and often humorous ways, these small scale compositions turn art history into both personal biography and cultural critique. Nothing is sacred. Masterpieces are simply raw material waiting to be reimagined.
White's collage works are something else. There's a true outsider inside there. Great to see his work getting some attention.