The Broken Hearts Club

collage, acrylic on wood / 24" x 36" / 2007

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Inspired by the song, "You Stand Alone" by Michael Lazar.

Perhaps my most beloved piece of all. Constructing The Broken Hearts Club was one of the most emotionally charged artistic experiences I've ever had. The piece began like many of my other-mainly earlier pieces-collages that focused primarily on the 2-d image; if at all, acrylic would only be used as a supplementary effect. However, once I completed the collage-which now only really constitutes a vague background at best-I felt like it needed change. At the time, the piece focused on a stunning Varga drawing depicting the first embrace of a newlywed couple. I splattered the piece with white paint, decided I didn't like it and promptly took a damp washcloth to the surface in hopes of clearing away the wet white paint from the image. In the process I dampened and damaged the picture of the bride and groom and was afraid I had destroyed the beauty of the piece. I quickly decided, though, that I could only move on from there and fix it-make it better-turn it into something even more thrilling. So I promptly took an equally dazzling, evocative Varga portrait of a lady-the one you see now-and slapped it over the newlyweds. It became sad, as if the lovers had been torn apart and replaced with a depiction of mourning; the saddest girl alive. I took out the red and pink acrylic, enclosed her in a bleeding heart and slashed it with the black. It named itself.

*Pictures 5-9 are a sort of documentation of the process I described above. I think you'll find it was a fascinating journey from start to finish!

not for sale.