Wednesday, September 16, 2009

My favorite etsy artists, AaronWhitmoyer

Get ready for a wonderful surprise tour inside the quirky collaged world of Aaron Whitmoyer. Aaron has a brand new shop on etsy. I found him soon after he opened by using the Pounce feature for undiscovered shops, and I have to say that I was completely delighted by what I came across there. Aaron's medium is old school collage--not digital, but cutting and pasting found imagery "with a contemporary flair." I bought the print here to the right, Who's Land Moo Land, for my brother for Christmas. My brother is a vintage sci-fi freak, and he will love this out of place astronaut, wandering in some strange land of digital cows and slimy yellow sky. That almost sounds like a Beatles song, doesn't it? As an aside, the envelope I received from Aaron was one of the most professionally packaged items I have ever gotten in the mail. I'm not one for fancy packaging or a lot of product that's going to go in the trash, and art is a tricky thing to ship. He did a great job of carefully making the print secure and safe, while not overdoing to the point of excess.

This second print, Time Size Vertigo, reminds me of the old Outer Limits show opening. Remember that? "We control your television. We control the vertical. We control the horizontal." When you have a sci-fi freak for an older brother, you end up watching a lot of stuff like this on TV during your formative years. Aaron's shop description for the print: "Red, black and white abstract collage combining images of nano technology, sliced structures with windows and a fractured clock. " I love the combination of the deconstructed black and white images with the red and black vertigo spinning circles. It reminds me a bit of the movie posters for Hitchock's Vertigo as well, with its mysterious and unsettling visual tone.
Red Sky Planet looks otherworldly and tropical, somehow. It reminds me a bit of Matisse's collages, teleported to another world. "Genetically modified flowers growing on another planet with a bright red sky." With a peppermint lollipop moon, I might add. It looks like the cover of an album I would want to listen to. There's something very elemental yet polished about Aaron's work. Red Sky Planet especially is a bit primal, while also registering as a bit technical.
Which brings me back to the main theme of what I seem to like in art, doesn't it? Two extremes brought together or smashed into each other to create a new, visually stunning image.
As he does in this print, The Gift, Aaron is able to take discordant found images and make something fresh and emotionally striking. If I ran across the images on their own, they might be interesting, but the way that Aaron is able to see them and combine them--the colors, the shapes, and the cultural and emotional impact, not to mention the sense of humor--that's what makes it great art, and that is Aaron's gift. As he says in his shop announcement, "Embrace anomalies and spontaneity!" Good advice to all of us who attempt to create new things.
One last note: All images are the property of Aaron Whitmoyer. Please consult him before copying or using any of the images in this blog post, or you'll end up transported to another planet, and not a nice one either. Thanks!
And be sure to check out his shop. It's full of techno-magic!

5 comments:

  1. That's so neat you found him by pouncing. I have yet to discover anything amazing that way. I can totally relate about the sci-fi stuff, except it was my dad who was/is a total nut for it. As a little girl I sat and watched bizarre shit with my dad--stuff little girls probably shouldn't see. The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Time Machine, Soylent Green, Blade Runner, Altered States, Dr. Who. It's no wonder I had such crazy dreams as a kid. I'll have to check this shop out as my dad's birthday is just around the corner...

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  2. How weird, I just discovered this artist the other day! Great that you found him and wrote this up!

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  3. etsy is a small world, elspeth! His stuff is so cool. And Lost, I've seen all of those movies too. I still love lots of them, including Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The old one is so great.

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  4. Oh love this stuff!! I love sci-fi and I just finished watching all of Torchwood, LOVE IT! Also love the new Dr Who. Blade Runner is a classic and Phillip K Dick the author of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? the book Blade Runner is based on ,is one of my fave authors.
    Love this post MAB.

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  5. oh very neat.. i love surreal collages! and so cool you found the shop using pounce! ;)

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