28 May 2020> As mentioned in prior posts leading up to this (posts # 734, 737, 741 + 744), we've been making some "anti-art" these past few months while cooped up during this pandemic. The seeds for these were planted sometime before... actually, let us preface this by saying we (anon I'm us) are not an artist, we have no idea what we're doing . Out of necessity, we started making cover art for books we published under Calamari Archive. We started calling ourselves a casalingo when we moved to Rome a decade ago—after learning casalinga meant "housewife," we said we were a casalingo when people asked what we did for a living + they'd laugh, saying u can't be that! That a male house-husband doesn't exist in Italian. Casalingo describes objects, not people, meaning "housewares" or "home-made".
      Last year we moved back to the U.S. + bought our 1st home, after 30+ years of renting. So then we officially became a "home-maker" + started getting tools + supplies to fix + maintain our home. The house is big enough that once we'd put up all the art we've accumulated over the years, our bedder-½ (the 1 who wears the pants) asked if we could make some larger-sclae art to adorn our walls. All the "art" we'd made before now we did for books—small format, that could be scanned + reproduced. When we went to an art store we were shocked at how expensive canvasses + paints were... the idea of it seemed sort of silly. Before then we'd just used recycled (used) paper or pages from old books, discarded or that we'd gotten cheap at flea markets. So we started rummaging through back alleys of D.C. looking for pieces of plywood or things that we could use as a canvas. Then COVID-19 hit + rummaging thru people's garbage didn't seem like such a good idea. Meanwhile our own garbage was mounting, all the boxes from buying stuff online. The idea of "recycling" has always bothered us, how we just put something in a bin to ease our conscious. Re-using, when possible, is even better. Food-wise we try to waste absolutely nothing when we cook (the primary responsibility of a child-less casalingo), turning scraps into broth whenever possible. This same 'waste not want not' mentality gets applied to this art + some of these onion skins, chili stems, roots, etc. even found their way into the works, along with leaves + stuff from our yard.
      That's the idea behind these in a nutshell, for the most part these were made on cardboard boxes or other materials destined for the garbage or recycling bins, using supplies from the hardware store (leftover paint, etc.) + most of the images (we couldn't draw even a stick figure for the life of us, so have always resorted to collage) are from old books we found discarded on the streets of Rome, so weathered + decayed that we've kept them wrapped up in bags for the past decade. The few times we've tried to take them out before, the books disentegrated in our hands making a mess, so we had to work outside in the yard + then apply lacquer or glue to keep them from disentegrating further... tho if they continue to deteriorate, well, that's part of the process, right? We've always had a fascination w/ chaos + chance operations—"beauty in the breakdown," things in decay, letting nature run it's course.
      For anyone interested in acquiring any of these, [we're now giving them away for FREE if U pay for postage... Contact us]. Click on image to see more detail.

CC #20 (2020)

12" x 15"—mixed media/collage on treated inside book cover

[AVAILALBLE}

CC #19 (2020)

10" x 14"—mixed media on treated inside book cover

[AVAILALBLE}

CC #18 (2020)

11" x 14"—mixed media/collage on treated inside book cover

[AVAILALBLE}

CC #17 (2020)

9" x 12"—mixed media/collage on cardboard

[spoken for]

CC #16 (2020)

13" x 21"—collage/mixed media (sand dollar, film) on cardboard

[spoken for]

CC #15 (2020)

14" x 11"—collage/mixed media on styrofoam

[AVAILALBLE}

CC #14 (2020)

15" x 16"—collage/mixed media (film) on cardboard

[spoken for]

CC #13 (2020)

11" x 12"—collage/mixed media (aluminum foil, circuit board, feather, rose petals, puzzle piece) on cardboard

[AVAILALBLE}

CC #12 (2020)

11" x 19"—collage/mixed media (roses, candle wax, chili stems, onion skins/root) on cardboard

[trashed]

CC #11 (2020)

11" x 14"— mixed media (puzzle pieces, pins) on styrofoam

[AVAILALBLE}

CC #10 (2020)

12" x 16"—mixed media (circuit boards, wood) on cardboard

[spoken for]

CC #9 (2020)

14" x 24"—mixed media (string, wire, circuits, pins) on cardboard

[trashed]

CC #8 (2020)

15" x 15"—mixed media on cardboard

[AVAILALBLE}

CC #7 (2020)

8" x 18"—mixed media (wire, circuit boards, springs, pins) on cardboard

[AVAILALBLE}

CC #6 (2020)

18" x 32"—mixed media (dying cactus, S.O.S. pads, nails, string, springs, LED lights) on scrap wood

[installed on our wall so not for sale]

CC #5 (2020)

14" x 18"—mixed media on cardboard

[spoken for]

CC #4 (2020)

9" x 15"—mixed media on cardboard

[AVAILALBLE}

CC #3 (2020)

7" x 9"—mixed media on cardboard

[AVAILALBLE}

CC #2 (2020)

10" x 10"—mixed media on cardboard

[AVAILALBLE}

CC #1 (2020)

24" x 72", mixed media (nails, screws, springs, wire, plants, rocks, thread) on plywood

[mounted on our wall so not for sale]