Craig Billings

Dryden MI

Artist’s Dilemma
Collage/Assemblage
Artist Statement
Art for me is about visualizing and combining formal art ideas with social political commentary. I love the “process”, the building of each work I create using anything I can find to get my message across to the viewer. Many of my pieces include collage, mixed media, paint, found objects, toys, items from nature, all blended together to create a kind of controlled chaos. The majority of my work talks to social political concerns in the world we live in. This is all from my own perspective and may be somewhat biased due to the continuing onslaught of media coverage which over the years has only gotten more prevalent and brazen. I continue to be an idealist with realist tendencies. We as human beings should yearn to be free, to use that freedom responsibly in the hope of making “life” better for us all. Life goes on around us, but do we truly see what is happening to ourselves and our brothers and sisters. Some have become immune to the horror that lives just beyond our yards. Many of my artworks are meant to startle the viewer, to present the worst in the hope that good will result. I bring this information to my work and with the use of “art” ideas (color, composition, balance, structure, use of different media) build the structure for communicating my ideas of social and political abnormalities as I see them. The controlled chaos is much like life itself with lots of images to look at that support the work. Some of the techniques used are of my own development and work especially well with my chosen media. I strive to be unique, to express my ideas in ways that will attract the viewer and bring him/her into closer contact with the work and its message. In merging those elements, I telegraph my emotions to whoever comes in contact with my work.