Pretty much all art making requires imagination, tenacity, commitment… But there’s commitment and then there’s operating on the teeming streets of New York City, tackling the wind, rain and being out there working even when the snow is still thick on the ground.
Brittany DiMauro – collage artist, paste-up muralist and life affirming force – sees the urban environment as her gallery. Or rather an egalitarian, participatory platform where she can share her vivid, ingeniously inventive, eye-grabbing visual creativity as well as an acutely felt socio-political conscience.
The artist’s deep dive into collage began during the lockdown days of Covid 19. Her method is time honoured, ‘basic’, in terms of hands-on accessibility. In DiMauro’s own words, “I just use found materials, a blade and a glue stick. I think art should be for everybody. It shouldn’t be untouchable or unaffordable.”
The posters, striking asymmetrical die-cut-like works and mural-sized urban interventions address a range of preoccupations: exploitation and victimisation, human rights, political malfeasance, sexism, celebrity, the patriarchy, injustice…
For example, DiMauro’s giant paste-up roundel featuring Elizabeth Moss playing The Handmaid’s Tale protagonist Offred – a fertile woman forced into Gilead’s regime of sexual servitude – is an arresting collage. Offred’s eyes track passers-by Mona Lisa style, at once enigmatic and challenging, while the phrase BLESSED BE MY BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS hugs the ornately carved tondo frame. Its message(s)? For one, keep abortion safe and legal.
And you wouldn’t expect this artist to shy away from one of the greatest scandals de nos jours in a work that foregrounds Virginia Giuffre. Obviously, it brings to mind her grievous fate at the hands of sex traffickers Epstein and Maxwell, as well as Mountbatten’s alleged assault when she was still a minor. But, but… Rising as Giuffre does here, in a heart-dotted black and white summer dress and broad-brimmed chequered hat, she breaks out of the oval frame, free at last like the wild horses by her side. In the background? A ‘quotation’ from Artemisia Gentileschi’s painting Jael and Sisera (c 1620) wherein Jael drives a wooden peg through the temple of Sisera, an opposing army general.
As well as taking on international cause célèbres DiMauro commemorates lesser-known or perhaps unexpected individuals: the teacher, healer and therapist Amelie Marguerite Prescot gets her own roundel paste-up; chef, writer, global food and culture connoisseur Anthony Bourdain is remembered in a charmingly economic image; The Real Wives of NYC star Bethenny Frankel is hailed for calling out abuse at work, as the artist has said, “Many moons ago I worked in the cesspool of reality TV […] The things I’ve seen with my own eyeballs is enough to [make you] vomit continuously until the end of time.”
Amidst, or as well as, all the anguish and bearing witness there’s still room for fun. In DiMauro’s giant paste-up mural of Britney Spears riding Bonaparte’s horse – a witty détournement of Jacques-Louis David’s (1880/81) painting Napoleon Crossing the Alps – instead of propaganda intended for an emperor with this collage titled BRITPOLEON BONAPARTNEY it’s Britney on the fiery horse who’s presented as a ‘calm, masterly conqueror of nature and destiny’ (which, for her, makes an especially welcome change!).
Paper, paste and some very important things to say. Why wouldn’t UNCLE team up with DiMauro – aka eternalpossessions – and offer support for her latest critical and witty collage outings? It’s a no brainer. We caught up with the artist to find out more…
Brittany DiMauro – collage artist, paste-up muralist and life affirming force – sees the urban environment as her gallery. Or rather an egalitarian, participatory platform where she can share her vivid, ingeniously inventive, eye-grabbing visual creativity as well as an acutely felt socio-political conscience.
The artist’s deep dive into collage began during the lockdown days of Covid 19. Her method is time honoured, ‘basic’, in terms of hands-on accessibility. In DiMauro’s own words, “I just use found materials, a blade and a glue stick. I think art should be for everybody. It shouldn’t be untouchable or unaffordable.”
The posters, striking asymmetrical die-cut-like works and mural-sized urban interventions address a range of preoccupations: exploitation and victimisation, human rights, political malfeasance, sexism, celebrity, the patriarchy, injustice…
For example, DiMauro’s giant paste-up roundel featuring Elizabeth Moss playing The Handmaid’s Tale protagonist Offred – a fertile woman forced into Gilead’s regime of sexual servitude – is an arresting collage. Offred’s eyes track passers-by Mona Lisa style, at once enigmatic and challenging, while the phrase BLESSED BE MY BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS hugs the ornately carved tondo frame. Its message(s)? For one, keep abortion safe and legal.
And you wouldn’t expect this artist to shy away from one of the greatest scandals de nos jours in a work that foregrounds Virginia Giuffre. Obviously, it brings to mind her grievous fate at the hands of sex traffickers Epstein and Maxwell, as well as Mountbatten’s alleged assault when she was still a minor. But, but… Rising as Giuffre does here, in a heart-dotted black and white summer dress and broad-brimmed chequered hat, she breaks out of the oval frame, free at last like the wild horses by her side. In the background? A ‘quotation’ from Artemisia Gentileschi’s painting Jael and Sisera (c 1620) wherein Jael drives a wooden peg through the temple of Sisera, an opposing army general.
As well as taking on international cause célèbres DiMauro commemorates lesser-known or perhaps unexpected individuals: the teacher, healer and therapist Amelie Marguerite Prescot gets her own roundel paste-up; chef, writer, global food and culture connoisseur Anthony Bourdain is remembered in a charmingly economic image; The Real Wives of NYC star Bethenny Frankel is hailed for calling out abuse at work, as the artist has said, “Many moons ago I worked in the cesspool of reality TV […] The things I’ve seen with my own eyeballs is enough to [make you] vomit continuously until the end of time.”
Amidst, or as well as, all the anguish and bearing witness there’s still room for fun. In DiMauro’s giant paste-up mural of Britney Spears riding Bonaparte’s horse – a witty détournement of Jacques-Louis David’s (1880/81) painting Napoleon Crossing the Alps – instead of propaganda intended for an emperor with this collage titled BRITPOLEON BONAPARTNEY it’s Britney on the fiery horse who’s presented as a ‘calm, masterly conqueror of nature and destiny’ (which, for her, makes an especially welcome change!).
Paper, paste and some very important things to say. Why wouldn’t UNCLE team up with DiMauro – aka eternalpossessions – and offer support for her latest critical and witty collage outings? It’s a no brainer. We caught up with the artist to find out more…
YOU’VE SAID ELSEWHERE THAT COLLAGE IS, “KIND OF A WEIRD POCKET THAT DOESN’T NECESSARILY GET GROUPED IN WITH FINE ART.” WHAT ARE SOME OF THE PROS AND CONS OF THAT?
Well, a definite pro would be that there is a lack of parameters since the art form is still being pioneered and I am not a huge fan of rules, so that works for me. A con would be that collage is sometimes categorized as craft and this label devalues and belittles the work, which unsurprisingly happens primarily to art forms dominated by women. But I do think that is starting to change, especially in fibre arts.
WHO OR WHAT WOULD YOU CALL THE MOST IMPORTANT INFLUENCES ON YOUR THINKING AND PRACTICE? ARE THERE COLLAGISTS OR OTHER VISUAL ARTISTS WHO’VE MADE A STRONG IMPRESSION ON YOU AND YOUR WORK?
I am heavily influenced and inspired by daily life and the world around me. Living in such a diverse city, I have witnessed so many strange and beautiful moments. I see being an artist as a special profession where we get to observe and translate the human condition from a unique point of view and context. I would say that there are specific works that have really burned themselves into my brain like Michael Jackson’s “Dangerous” album cover by Mark Ryden, Bosch’s “Garden of Earthly Delights”, and the “Sfera con Sfera” sculptures by Arnaldo Pomodoro. I am super drawn to balance, symmetry and mystery.
Well, a definite pro would be that there is a lack of parameters since the art form is still being pioneered and I am not a huge fan of rules, so that works for me. A con would be that collage is sometimes categorized as craft and this label devalues and belittles the work, which unsurprisingly happens primarily to art forms dominated by women. But I do think that is starting to change, especially in fibre arts.
WHO OR WHAT WOULD YOU CALL THE MOST IMPORTANT INFLUENCES ON YOUR THINKING AND PRACTICE? ARE THERE COLLAGISTS OR OTHER VISUAL ARTISTS WHO’VE MADE A STRONG IMPRESSION ON YOU AND YOUR WORK?
I am heavily influenced and inspired by daily life and the world around me. Living in such a diverse city, I have witnessed so many strange and beautiful moments. I see being an artist as a special profession where we get to observe and translate the human condition from a unique point of view and context. I would say that there are specific works that have really burned themselves into my brain like Michael Jackson’s “Dangerous” album cover by Mark Ryden, Bosch’s “Garden of Earthly Delights”, and the “Sfera con Sfera” sculptures by Arnaldo Pomodoro. I am super drawn to balance, symmetry and mystery.
YOU COMBINE IMAGERY DRAWN FROM SAY, CLASSICAL PAINTING AND FINE ART PRINTMAKING TOGETHER WITH CARTOON FIGURES OR OTHER QUITE KITSCH CHARACTERS AND YET YOU’RE CLEARLY ADDRESSING IMPORTANT THEMES AND CONCERNS. WHAT ROLE DO THESE COMEDIC ELEMENTS PLAY IN YOUR WORK?
They play a couple of roles. One, they reflect the absurdity and mania of contemporary life in the United States, there have been so many moments of “did this actually happen?” It’s like a twisted episode of Saturday Night Live that nobody ever asked for. So, the cartoonish elements are a way to draw forth that dark humour that some of us use to cope with the horrors. They also serve as symbols of mind control and programming which starts quite aggressively at a young age here in America, not only through straight-up advertising but through more insidious delivery systems in media.
UNCLE HAS PARTNERED WITH YOU TO SUPPORT DISPLAYING YOUR LATEST COLLAGES ON THE STREETS OF NY. IN ONE OF THEM THERE’S A LIGHTHOUSE, WWII PLANES, THE TOWER OF BABEL, DISNEY’S MICKEY AND DONALD ON A RAFT – WHICH BRINGS TO MIND GERICAULT’S RAFT OF THE MEDUSA – CAN YOU SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THESE NEW COLLAGES?
Wow! You hit the nail on the head with that reference! Due to the timing of this partnership, I wanted to delve into the history of how we got here, and by “here” I mean this capitalist hellscape. For this new piece “Pyramid Scheme” I looked further into the history of trade and shipping companies, how they were the first to create the concept of the stock market and the reasons why these companies were at war to find new routes and means of exploitation. The cartoon elements show up here again to symbolize the programming we received in school, fairy tales about “great explorers”. The American experiment has proven to be a scam at the expense of the transatlantic slave trade and the genocide of indigenous people, paramount amongst other atrocities.
They play a couple of roles. One, they reflect the absurdity and mania of contemporary life in the United States, there have been so many moments of “did this actually happen?” It’s like a twisted episode of Saturday Night Live that nobody ever asked for. So, the cartoonish elements are a way to draw forth that dark humour that some of us use to cope with the horrors. They also serve as symbols of mind control and programming which starts quite aggressively at a young age here in America, not only through straight-up advertising but through more insidious delivery systems in media.
UNCLE HAS PARTNERED WITH YOU TO SUPPORT DISPLAYING YOUR LATEST COLLAGES ON THE STREETS OF NY. IN ONE OF THEM THERE’S A LIGHTHOUSE, WWII PLANES, THE TOWER OF BABEL, DISNEY’S MICKEY AND DONALD ON A RAFT – WHICH BRINGS TO MIND GERICAULT’S RAFT OF THE MEDUSA – CAN YOU SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THESE NEW COLLAGES?
Wow! You hit the nail on the head with that reference! Due to the timing of this partnership, I wanted to delve into the history of how we got here, and by “here” I mean this capitalist hellscape. For this new piece “Pyramid Scheme” I looked further into the history of trade and shipping companies, how they were the first to create the concept of the stock market and the reasons why these companies were at war to find new routes and means of exploitation. The cartoon elements show up here again to symbolize the programming we received in school, fairy tales about “great explorers”. The American experiment has proven to be a scam at the expense of the transatlantic slave trade and the genocide of indigenous people, paramount amongst other atrocities.
AND FOLLOWING ON FROM THE ABOVE, YOUR HIGHWAY TO HELL WORK COULD BE READ AS DAMNING CRITIQUE OF WHERE THE US, IF NOT THE WORLD, IS RIGHT NOW BUT DO YOU SEE ANY SIGNS OF HOPE OR EVEN PROGRESS?
I do have hope that the flame is being kept alive and just because at times we cannot feel its warmth or be guided by its light, that does not mean it has died out completely. I think that we are just in a very dark phase of a cycle that has been intensified by human greed and neglect for the well-being of the planet. I have faith in the younger generations, they are coming of age in a time where the curtain has been pulled back on the system which leaves space to destroy and create.
FINALLY, TO PART FUND YOUR STREET INTERVENTIONS YOU MAKE AVAILABLE FOR SALE WHAT I’M GOING TO NO DOUBT MIS-DESCRIBE AS ‘OBJETS D’ART’: COMBINATIONS OF YOUR IMAGERY AND AN ANTIQUE DRESSING TABLE MIRROR FOR EXAMPLE. AND THESE ITEMS ARE FABULOUS. I ESPECIALLY LIKED ‘DOLLY BALL’, THE VINTAGE PINBALL MACHINE WHOSE PLAYFIELD CARRIES AN IMAGE OF DOLLY PARTON. DO YOU INTEND TO KEEP DEVELOPING BOTH THE OUTDOOR AND THE DECORATIVE SIDE OF YOUR PRACTICE? IF SO, WHAT ARE YOUR AMBITIONS REGARDING THESE TWO AVENUES OF ACTIVITY?
I would say that’s an absolutely accurate interpretation, actually my first solo show was heavily adorned with objects surrounding the works themselves. I grew up thrifting and have just always been drawn to found objects and things that were made in a different era. I don’t think I will ever stop doing street art, in the beginning it was more about getting up, whereas now I am more focused on scale. I can only paste about 12 feet high on a step ladder, so one of my dreams is to create a mural more in the realm of fifty feet tall. In the studio lately I’m working more on stand-alone pieces than collages for street installations. Right now, I’m figuring out ways to work with three-dimensional objects in the context of collage and in keeping with my aesthetic. I’m very excited about that avenue.
Brittany DiMauro, thank you for sharing such animpressive body of work and taking time to unpack some of the ideas, enthusiasms and ethically engaged attitude that propels the production and display of your art.
I do have hope that the flame is being kept alive and just because at times we cannot feel its warmth or be guided by its light, that does not mean it has died out completely. I think that we are just in a very dark phase of a cycle that has been intensified by human greed and neglect for the well-being of the planet. I have faith in the younger generations, they are coming of age in a time where the curtain has been pulled back on the system which leaves space to destroy and create.
FINALLY, TO PART FUND YOUR STREET INTERVENTIONS YOU MAKE AVAILABLE FOR SALE WHAT I’M GOING TO NO DOUBT MIS-DESCRIBE AS ‘OBJETS D’ART’: COMBINATIONS OF YOUR IMAGERY AND AN ANTIQUE DRESSING TABLE MIRROR FOR EXAMPLE. AND THESE ITEMS ARE FABULOUS. I ESPECIALLY LIKED ‘DOLLY BALL’, THE VINTAGE PINBALL MACHINE WHOSE PLAYFIELD CARRIES AN IMAGE OF DOLLY PARTON. DO YOU INTEND TO KEEP DEVELOPING BOTH THE OUTDOOR AND THE DECORATIVE SIDE OF YOUR PRACTICE? IF SO, WHAT ARE YOUR AMBITIONS REGARDING THESE TWO AVENUES OF ACTIVITY?
I would say that’s an absolutely accurate interpretation, actually my first solo show was heavily adorned with objects surrounding the works themselves. I grew up thrifting and have just always been drawn to found objects and things that were made in a different era. I don’t think I will ever stop doing street art, in the beginning it was more about getting up, whereas now I am more focused on scale. I can only paste about 12 feet high on a step ladder, so one of my dreams is to create a mural more in the realm of fifty feet tall. In the studio lately I’m working more on stand-alone pieces than collages for street installations. Right now, I’m figuring out ways to work with three-dimensional objects in the context of collage and in keeping with my aesthetic. I’m very excited about that avenue.
Brittany DiMauro, thank you for sharing such animpressive body of work and taking time to unpack some of the ideas, enthusiasms and ethically engaged attitude that propels the production and display of your art.
