THE CAVENDER DIARY

Since childhood, Dolan Geiman has been collecting “found objects” that have inspired him to create mixed media artwork in his adult life. Scraps from old textbooks and nature magazines, salvaged wood, handwritten civil war love letters, metal ornaments, wooden nickels and other discarded ephemera find their way into his work; each item stirs nostalgia for a not-too-distant, more rural time and place Geiman identifies as home. His Chicago studio has come to resemble a life-size cabinet of Southern curiosities, not too dissimilar from the abandoned homesteads of his native Virginia where he has collected, or rescued, many treasures.

Trained as a sculptor and printmaker, almost every one of Geiman’s artworks is thick with construction. Beginning with a salvaged background surface, oftentimes a panel of wood from shipping crates or road signs, Geiman’s ideas achieve form in layers through a mixture of collage, assemblage, drawing, painting, and screen-printing. A first step of painting may be followed by the application of glued papers and objects, or vice versa, resulting in a base image that may then be hand-distressed to take on a weathered or aged appearance.  The final addition of a key image, either a single form such as a cowboy or bird or a montage of images, completes the work and becomes its main focal point. This flexible, mutable process results in a signature artwork which occupies a unique space between folk, collage, and a contemporary urban style.

I’m crazy about this guy’s work right now.

In his eyes, shot-gun shells, license plates, vintage rulers, keys, and barn wood are more than just junk.

Just genius,

Dolan even does commissioned work.

A handful of pieces and prints are available from his Etsy shop.

Although I could be tempted to try some of his techniques to make my own piece or 2.

Stay tuned