Abstract Collage

I used to really hate abstract art. I went to art school from 1988-92 in New York City. Many of my teachers had come from an abstract expressionist/postmodernist background and I was always being encouraged to be more non figurative in my work. I wanted to draw comics so as one can imagine I had a hard time there since my artwork was in their words "mere illustration". Strangely, a few years after graduating I found that my appreciation of some abstract work had increased. I don't really know why. Perhaps because it was the opposite of the kind of work I was now doing for a living. In any case I started doing some small mixed media collage/paintings just for fun. I don't know what they are supposed to mean exactly other that that they were a kind of internal dialog or narrative that I wanted to put on paper. I'll stop now as I'm starting to sound like a pretentious fine artist.

These were done in Los Angeles. Summer 1997...