So, this is cool
Matthew Cusick is a collage and mixed media artist who is a New Yorker by birth and a Texan by residence. I am not sure if he is a long, tall Texan. But I like to imagine he might be.
Collage and mixed media works are kind of my thing. I have a fondness for them, generally speaking. But it actually isn’t all that common to come across mixed media works that are so truly skillful in their creation, nor so appealing in their aesthetics. And to have both of these aspects in the same works, well that is very exciting indeed.
Red & Blue | 2010 | Maps, book pages, ink, on panel
Red, detail
I also really like maps. They remind me of when I was little and my parents used to get huge maps from our map chest (yes, we had a map chest), and peruse them before we went on any kind of driving holiday or picnic. Or those times they used to drag me to open gardens in the middle of nowhere. Those times, the map part at the beginning was the most exciting part. There is something kind of exotic about a map, and physical, tangible maps have that mysterious quality that their contemporary companion, Google maps, does not. When you’re young, or in those times before the internet was so commonly used, they were the only things that made you realise how huge and yet minutely detailed the world actually was, or hinted at the undiscovered lands that lay beyond the familiar.
There is something particularly nice about the way in which something so detailed, close up, can create something larger. It reminds me of another contemporary mixed media artist who I’ve actually spoken about before, Gonkar Gyatso (check out the images under ‘studio’ while you’re there, they are quite fascinating).
Here is another nice map work by Cusick:
Geronimo | 2007 | Maps and atlas pages on wood panel
Cusick also does some more abstract collage works, which are equally beautiful and skilfull in their composition.
Crown of Creation | 2009 | Magazine clippings on panel
These are in addition to a number of works that he creates using images from maps, along with those from an illustrated bible, the detail of which can be seen in the black portion of the image.
Leviathan | 2008 | Maps, illustrated bible, ink on panel
Leviathan, detail
I wish I could see Cusick’s stuff in real life, because I have a feeling that I am missing out on something by not experiencing the textural nature of the pieces. And this, in my experience, is often one of the best parts about mixed media works.
It’s that nice quality that paper tends to have, a worn quality that suggests that it’s been places, and evokes feelings of mystery and an undiscovered history. This, in conjunction with layering, of materials as well as things like paint and ink, is what distinguishes collage and mixed media from other genres of art and in my view, makes it so appealing.
If you’re interested, Cusick also dabbles in some video art, which can be viewed here.
