Holepunch1
©1991 Craig Ashby
3.875” x 3.875”
Collage

The first of an unexpected trio of Holepunch pieces. A huge part of me doesn’t know if I should laugh or cringe. I still like them and think they are important. Somehow.

Simple construction. A background layer, a man without a shirt and a snowflake fold of a hosta leaf that I lost my hole punching mind on.

It’s a simple two crease fold but I love how you can’t tell if the hole punches are added on top or vice versa. Long before my extensive contact with African art, you can see that layered look I still go for. Background and foreground locked in an eternal fight for supremacy. I nail that fight in this piece.

The idea itself is a bit more of a stretch. A male chest covered by a plant leaf that was my mother’s favorite go to plant. In retrospect it’s horribly closeted, but more terrifyingly Judeo-Christian. I tackle this idea better in a portrait of Thomas Malic. With much more pagan magic and less fear.

I think this piece is especially relevant because the MAZEXTRA series had lace work very similar to this. I am past my holepunch phase (maybe?!?) but there is a nugget of things to come in these simple pieces.