Culture
John McVicker’s ‘Demolition’ Rich With Unexpected Beauty On Display at Athens Public Library
By: Emily Votaw
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A selection of digital collages by artist John McVicker, entitled “Demolition,” is now on display at the Athens Public Library (30 Home Street).
McVicker used images he took of the ongoing demolition of the Athens East Elementary School in the collages — and the resulting images are palpably kinetic — endowed with what McVicker calls “mojo.”
“(The images) had power to them, all by themselves — and then because I like to fool around with pictures, I wanted to make them different, better, somehow — not better, but mine, I guess,” McVicker said. “At the time I was selecting and arranging things — I’m really embarrassed to say — but it’s kind of like ‘I’m a magpie! It’s a pretty thing! It shines! I like it!’ — and that’s really where it comes from when I’m putting together a picture. I’m just looking for pretty — not pretty, but beautiful, unexpected beauty.”
McVicker spoke to WOUB Culture about mojo, the nature of human creativity, and how the things that surround us everyday are capable of inspiring works of great artistic beauty, in the feature embedded above.
Check out the collages in person at the Athens Public Library, which is open 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday, including special hours for those especially at risk for COVID-19 on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m.