Dropped from the Clouds
Doug Stapleton: Dropped from the Clouds
Recent mixed media collage
There’s a song, Birds, by Frida Hyvönen that is the soundtrack to this work
You count on the birds
You count on them to represent your longing
Birds are stand-ins. They are sacred, territorial, thieving, and unbridled.
I found a facsimile of a Tiepolo sketchbook and fell in love with the soft ruddy curves of the figures. The drawings are whispers compared to the bright confections of Tiepolo's finished works. I have been looking at Piero Della Francesca as well. Sad and saintly figures in fantastic built environments. Finally, I bought an antique wooden floor grate caked with years of white paint. It is a building in my mind—a cote or shelter—for sheltering longing.
Been hiding lately. Been out of function
Been hibernating. Been looking at birds
Burdened by something I have to get rid of
Been making myself a better world
All these parts add up to nothing specific. Mostly I struggled to make these wispy drawings and ideas of shelter and longing work together. By fits and starts.
Underneath something else seethed and shifted. The monstrous—that is the unbridled part—equal parts fear, exasperation, and longing to become something else. A change into something grotesque is welcome. Celebrated really.
Now please call the boys, please call the boys
Tell them to put on their dancing shoes now
Doug Stapleton
Chicago, September 2020