Art & Soul: Artist creates elaborate collages

By Allison Hersh
Posted: June 7, 2014 - 10:50pm  |  Updated: June 8, 2014 - 12:05am
Carl M. Crawford carefully cuts an arc-shaped fragment out of a magazine with an X-Acto knife, gently rubs the emerald green shape on a glue stick and firmly presses the cut out form with his left thumb to complete the dancer’s left leg in his latest composition.

This Columbia, S.C. artist pioneered a technique he calls “collage illusion,” creating elaborate mixed media paintings on glass without using a single stroke of paint. A self-taught artist, Crawford has been inspired by African-American artists like Romare Bearden and Jacob Lawrence.

Crawford developed his own distinctive collage style 16 years ago, after seeing the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater perform live and being struck by the way the dancers’ bodies suggested abstract forms.

“I was really moved by the performance,” he recalls. “I felt the energy and saw the abstract shapes. The abstract forms combined to suggest movement and energy.”

“Movement: A Dynamic Expression of Jazz and Dance,” a new solo exhibit at the Beach Institute, showcases 30 of Crawford’s original collages and prints. Many of the collages took several months to create, as the artist carefully matches scraps cut from magazine pages to craft elaborate, colorful tributes to music and dance.

Crawford uses only donated magazines, calling his art “recycling at its finest.” His detailed collage technique captures the essence of jazz music and expressive dance forms using vibrant jewel tones. From a distance, each composition resembles an oil painting. Only when viewed up close does the complex nature of the collage become clear to the viewer.
read more: http://savannahnow.com/accent/2014-06-07/art-soul-artist-creates-elaborate-collages#.U5i2fxYSt3g