Unprecedented Growth
Original collage
This is a continuation of Michael DeSutter’s Counting Bars series. Created from vintage Fortune magazines the artist inherited from his grandfather, the work references growth in multiple ways. While DeSutter thought there was nothing left to explore with the series, each time he sat with the materials it felt like a conversation with his grandfather, driving him to see things in a new way. The artist simply was not ready for this conversation to be over just yet. In the artists own words:
“Inspired by my late grandfather’s fascination with charting market growth and the numerous bar graphs that fill the pages of 18 years (1954-1972) worth of Fortune magazines he left me, I deconstructed the bar graph while conducting an inward exploration around my own desire to chart growth, personal growth.
‘Counting Bars’ - the title itself a nod to my grandfather’s love of music, finds me looking at my personal growth over the past four decades, from rural middle-American to east coaster, and now west coaster, questioning what my relationship with my grandfather might be like if he were alive today.
This body of work is created entirely from the pages of Fortune magazines my grandfather left me.”
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About our custom frames
Artwork Information
Year
2023
Materials
Original collage
Authentication
The work comes with a Certification of Authenticity signed by the Co-Founder of Tappan
Dimensions
25 x 40 inches
FRAMED DIMENSIONS
Floated: 30 x 45 x 2 inches
This artwork is custom-framed in hand-built solid wood framing with archival materials. Custom framed artworks will ship in 1 - 3 weeks.
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text: 310-388-3425
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“It’s important to take first steps even if you’re unsure of what you’re doing or how it will go, you’ll learn from them and that’s something you’ll be able to take with you the rest of your life.”
About the Artist
Michael DeSutter
DeSutter's graphic & meditative collages have been featured in Full Blede and AnOther Magazine. His original collages are currently featured at Pharrell's The Goodtime Hotel in Miami. DeSutter practices includes considering the overlooked within old magazines, he uses these records of the past to consider and recontextualize the future.
Current Exhibition
Echoes of Being
Group Show
April 12 - May 28
Tappan
8200 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles CA
About the Series
About the Counting Bars
Inspired by his late grandfather’s love of music and charting market growth, Michael DeSutter created “Counting Bars.” The collage series takes cues from business graphs and bar charts, reimagining them as visual representations of personal growth. DeSutter worked with eighteen years’ worth of Fortune Magazines inherited from his grandfather. While sifting through the publications dating from 1954 to 1972, he took clippings of various bars of color and organized them into groupings. To create each collage, DeSutter fanned a set of color bars and allowed them to fall organically onto a paper ground. He used the established locations to inform the final compositions, instilling a sense of movement.
To see images of making the work & read more about the meaning behind the pieces, click here.
BOBBY BERK ON MICHAEL DESUTTER
“From a distance, this piece feels quite simple and straightforward. But when you look up close, it's a complex and really engaging work that has a lot of layers to it.”
Artwork: Boulevard
