Altered Boards is a technique used by many collagists and assemblagists to create pieces of art from previously unaltered materials. By taking media such as paper, paints, gels, cardboard, and any type of paper or liquid media, an artist has the ability to alter preexisting material into something that is completely different and unrecognizable. These flat boards can then be made three-dimensional by using a styrofoam back, as pictured with these five particular pieces, forming a “frame” that allows the pieces to project off the wall. Many techniques have been used on these pieces, from gel transfers to gel coverings, from paint flinging to scratch resurfacing. My inspiration for these pieces is not completely straightforward. On the one hand, I wanted to create pieces that were not complete alterations of the original, but rather slight variations to make them indistinguishably unique. On the other hand, I wished to take muted, unconventional art, pieces that are not necessarily ingrained into the communal psyche, and see if I could make them more appealing, more psychologically and optically powerful. In combining these two ideas, I have fashioned pieces that do not take away from the original artists’ intensions, but rather add a new degree of strength and activity to them.
