Visual Art

Five by Seven

collage postcard exhibition channels the advertising age

Chris Macheichok |

It’s been a very good year.
 
It’s been a very good year.
For the month of December, Tangled Up in Hue is presenting one-of-a-kind, socio-political statement artworks in the form of advertisement collage postcards. The artist, Rice Lake native Ted Lewis, employs miniature collages produced on 5x7 cards, which he calls “Ted Cards.” Composed of recycled materials from print media, each card is one-of-a-kind since Lewis refuses to use any copying or reproduction. This not only preserves the uniqueness of the work, but also is a statement against the dependency of electricity used to produce today’s artwork. “When anthropologists dig up our society 1,000 years from now,” Lewis explains, “they will view advertising as the primary art-form that reflects our culture.” Each piece consists of one cutout and one background to highlight the theme of relationality, and both of these parts share certain features to provide a tense or ironic relationship as a form of social commentary. Working from hundreds of cut-outs and backgrounds, it’s a creative process that he describes being similar to matchmaking. Lewis has been doing collage work since the early 80s and has produced more than 500 of the Ted Cards, his primary art project that he began in 1994. His art at Tangled Up In Hue will be available for purchase, framed and priced between $12 and $36.

Ted Card Collection: Collages to Reverse Mass Print Media • Dec. 2-31 • Tangled Up in Hue, 416 S Barstow St., Eau Claire • FREE • 855-0090 • TangledUpinHue.com