Exquisite Corpse 08
©1993 Craig Ashby and Laura Farrow
3″ x 5″
Pen and Ink

Exquisite Corpse 08 sees Truth or Dare era Madonna with the top and bottom weirdness being my own concoction. All three together form classic melding of pop, sexual, and weird occult symbology way ahead of my knowledge base at the time.

More of that precognitive ability coming into play. Something that continues to repeat. A thing I need to meditate on before making new work.

There is something raw and deeply foreshadowing in these pieces. At first glance they seem silly and juvenile. But what I see is something to aspire to right now.

An old surrealist magic ritual like automatic writing to kickstart something new. I disagree with the history of surrealism that many renounced it as bourgeois. Dreams are a great thing to draw from for any working artist.

Now I just need to synthesize this new work. I know now that some of the plexiglass pieces will be self-portraits. Distorted like clear mirrors I show all the time. Distorted through dreams and the great tradition and darkness of surrealism.