RHS02
©2009-2010 Craig Ashby
6” x 5”
Collage

Second in the RHS or Restless Hand Series comes up with cigarettes and Jessica Stam. Cigarettes I used to smoke no less. Matching the same colored dress as worn by Jessica Stam. Whoa.

This is one of those ideas that really bother me especially after just recently quitting smoking. What was I thinking? The financial drain. The health risk. The aesthetic and ethical failure of a cigarette called American Spirit.

Just look at it. It’s a nightmare graphic I would normally never get near. The fact that I featured it in a piece shows how much I am stretching to reach the unbeauty.

I love that the company behind these cigarettes tries to promote them as the alternative. While this particular advertisement features all the alternative aesthetics you would find in a Newport billboard.

Just look at it. There is nothing there but lung cancer and status quo. Rebranded like Coors microbrewed beers buying into a marketable trend. It’s all just crap.

What I do love about this piece is how the colors blend to obscure so much. Jessica gets lost. All that is left are those violin shapes and the texture of plastic wrapped Modge Podge. It makes for a lovely set.

I didn’t mention in the last piece that these pieces would extend over the edge of the scrap board they were adhered to and needed trimming after drying. I tried to crop each piece to bring out the best of the finished work.

I wonder where all that energy went. After cutting and gluing for six hours, I would sit and create one of these for a couple of hours. Out of sheer tension and the desire for release. I must go on a mission to find that level of energy again.