Real Landscapes by Todd Bartel

The history of collage and the history of landscape painting are the same story.

“In my researched-based collages, assemblages, and drawings, land appears marginalized, appropriated, or as iconic “landviews.” My combined imagery links and chronicles changing attitudes about land depiction, land management, the consumption of natural resources, and the roots of language associated with these areas of interest. My practice frequently results in series-based and rule-based production. I am interested in how collé types change the meaning of anything paired. The below grouping of work highlights my Real Landscape series.

Rules for Real Landscapes:

If landviews are protected and maintained,
landscapes are cut and rearranged.

• combine land excerpts to form composite scenes
• illuminate the history of land use and land depiction
• construct single-surface interlocking collages (puzzle-piece collages)
• employ frame redundancy:
virtual frame—represented, collaged, replete with old-world quality, color, and texture
actual frame—presented, plasticized, replete with new-world artificiality, and devoid of color
• actual frames are wireless and appear to defy gravity

Curators’ note: Todd’s “puzzle piece technique” is so hard to appreciate in the online format, so we’ve added a film he has made that better illustrates this process and the outcome.

Todd Bartel is an artist, historian, and curator. He received a BFA in painting from RISD and an MFA in painting from Carnegie Mellon. He has taught at Brown University, and Manhattanville College and has been a guest critic at RISD, and the MFA programs of Vermont Collage, New Hampshire Art Institute, and Mass Art. He teaches drawing, painting, collage, and conceptual art at the Cambridge School of Weston (MA) and is the founder & Gallery Director of the Thompson Gallery. He is a contributing writer for Kolaj magazine. His work is in the collections of Henry Sheldon Museum (Middlebury, Vermont), MERZ Gallery (Sanquhar, Scotland), Kanyer Collection (Yakama, WA), Ontological Museum (Pagosa Springs, CO), Pfizer (Rye Brook, NY), Chelsea Clinton (Private Collection), TBF Collectables LDC (London, GB), Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, PA).

Instagram: @collagehead Website: toddbartel.com

>Next artist: Anthony Grant