Les Vieux Jours
Purveyor of Whimsical Collage
&Assemblage Art
& Other Curiousities
I am a Chicago based artist with a penchant for historical antique images and subject matter, as well as all manner of surrealist whimsy. I specialize in mixed media, collage and assemblage art, but am also given to writing and other creative endeavors. To describe my style in one sentence:
My art is what happens when Halloween shags
Mardi Gras in the coat closet at the museum gala.
In the past, I had attended various art fair venues including Glenwood's craft fair, and had made crafts available at a couple of local shops. While I no longer participate in the art fair circuit, I still display art and writing here online and instagram, am dabbling in the creation of card and game projects which I make available on The Game Crafter.
Linksies!
Reclamation
In 2018 I lost everything. I had lived in a poisonous house for fourteen years, and my health was direly compromised. I had to leave behind nearly all my possessions and art. I am still healing, slowly and painfully. This is how I am taking myself back.
Tirahvaalta
My imaginary country. This is where I really live. There is far more there than what is up here, and it will never truly be finished.
My adventures in a fake Goth Band
Long long ago, in the waning days of the 90's, I was in a goth band. Or rather I pretended I was, and some friends went along with it. This is really a lesson in what office jobs do to creative types.
Hamlet and Humor
I have a Hamlet problem. This is what happens when an art project decides to take on a life of its own and become a humor project. Song parodies, paper dolls, costumes and melodramatic poses, silly drawings and memes. It's all Shakespeare's fault.
Why Imagination & Fantasy are Necessary
There is not enough magic and joy in this train wreck of a shared reality we call "the world" to really sustain us. And there is a reason why art persists and always will.
Writings and Scrawlings
I used to not think of myself as a writer, but my writing is truly intertwined with my art in more ways than I realized. Sonnets and poetry, short stories, some essays and little surrealist vignettes all take up residence here.
Virtual Goth Night
Because my tendency to want to both DJ and dance need to be fulfilled. This link has been rated S for Spooky. Don't like it? Talk to the phalanges.
The Sims 4 - an alternate world
, and play in the boundaries of a world that is safe, therapeutic, and fulfilling. This is about some of the art I've made in and using that game.
Messages in a Bottle
An attempt at blogging
Art for Art's Sake
There is this misguided set of notions about what being an artist is, and I'd like to be clear about the reality of it. Being an artist does not require you to be a professional at it. It is not and never was a career, it is a calling and a state of being. Selling art does not make you an artist. Displaying art in a gallery does not make you an artist. Bullshitting and persuasion does not make you an artist.
The only prerequisite of claiming the title of artist is that you make art. Whether it's for joy, or coping, or to send a message. Even if no one ever sees what you do apart from you, if you are expressing yourself and channeling part of your life experience into another tangible medium, you are an artist. Period.
Newest Additions
Captain Marlock's Advice - a sea shanty about the perils of pirate cuisine
Robin Goodfellow - A mixed media drawing/collage of one of Tirahvaalta's premier denizens, and his story.
A short erotic love story about a ship and the sea.
GALLERY
A repository for past works and some current. Presently under construction!
Le Chambre Rose
When I was little, I had this recurring dream theme of a fantastic room in the top shelf of my closet, and if I climbed up there, it opened up into a low space covered in plush pink and red velvets, all carpeted. It was always filled with colorful games and toys, feeling rather timeless, and that dream never ceased to bring me joy.
I've been wanting to recreate it in some fashion my whole life, and as I'm taken with board and card games, I figured now is the time to construct that magical parlor of dreams.