51 of 52 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful to behold, but not necessarily a "how to" book, May 30, 2007
This review is from: Secrets of Rusty Things: Transforming Found Objects into Art (Paperback)
As most mixed media artists who've "come of age" in the post-scrapbooking/craft/art revolution, I've been a fan of Michael deMengs work for some time. I was delighted to catch an episode of DIY's Craft Lab in which he showed some of his rusting techniques (basically paint is what he uses to get that effect but with other surprises like spray insulation foam).
This book is just beautiful, from the matt fold out covers to the unique presentations inside. Based in myths from around the world, each piece represented is beautiful and a step-by-step process is shown. But not clearly. Don't get me wrong-the photos are clear but the process isn't necessarily clearly outlined. I haven't minded at all bc the book is so awesome but I doubt I'll be combing any scrap yards anytime soon. Still it's wonderful to see his work in detail, watch it come together.
Don't expect a true "how to" book but more of a beautiful insight to how a true mixed media assemblage artist works. I'm not at all sorry I bought it! And I'm proud to be the first to review it.
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39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Riveting Artist, June 13, 2007
This review is from: Secrets of Rusty Things: Transforming Found Objects into Art (Paperback)
This is not a book about how to transform found objects into art. It does give good ideas of course, but that's not what it's about. It's about de Meng's creative process, which I think is much more interesting.
It's about the story behind several compelling pieces of assemblage art in his typically arresting style, starting with the mythology that gave the idea shape, followed by a narrative about how the piece evolved, accompanied by a running sidebar about how he acquires his elements.
The text is breezy and droll, complex without getting too pretentious, honest without being tediously self-deprecating. He's not putting himself on any pedestals, he's simply explaining the logic behind the decisions he makes (or are made for him) as he works on the piece, comments like "I decided to put a grate in front of her eyes. There, now she's exiled."
It's sprinkled throughout with tips ranging from his favorite paints to use for achieving certain effects to the dangers of open flame around freshly-applied Liquid Nails ("can cause some excitement"). It reveals how he overcomes the frustrations every artist experiences when work on a piece just isn't flowing.
In contrast to the text, the photos are not particularly illustrative, though prettily shot. The whole book is rich and dramatic, not easy to dismiss after riffling through it.
The sidebar steals the scene in a lot of cases, reading like a funny and well-written blog, and it changes the way you look at estate sales, junkyards, construction recycling facilities, and bits of mechanical detritus from an earlier age.
It's a dangerous book in this regard. Like all collage and assemblage art it discourages you from throwing away anything, and De Meng reveals little about how he manages the accumulation of intriguing junk that inevitably develops -- you get the impression that his studio consists of boxes and piles of junk, a lifestyle to which his readers may not aspire. (I wouldn't want to be the buddy he asks to help him move.)
In all, it's an engaging look into how a unique artist works and how his pieces develop. You won't come away with many practical new techniques to try out, but you will come away with a new approach to art, which is very worthwhile.
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29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Who are you? Find Out in this Book!, August 26, 2007
This review is from: Secrets of Rusty Things: Transforming Found Objects into Art (Paperback)
As a child, I spent many hours reading fairy tales and myths. The myths I read and studied were ancient. I loved them and they came from all over the world. I related to each one of them intuitively. I couldn't help it! Many readers, like me, begin as children, loving myths.
Possibly you agree that the human condition, our joys, trials, everything, is distilled myth, be it Inuit, Hindu, Greek.
Myths can seem grand and off-putting. However, when you pair them with the writing of the often humorous, occasionally mystical (I am thinking of his walk in the woods where he found some stove pieces, way away from any house, and wrote a lovely and visually elegant vignette about it) and frequently charming style of assemblage artist/teacher Michael de Meng, they are lively, full of energy and fun to view as potential subjects for artworks!
Read this book and you are reading two books side by side: de Meng recounts the myth he is concerned with, then begins to discuss the process he goes through when he creates an art piece representing that myth. Simultaneously, he comments in journalling script form on the side of each page about what is going on in his real life with a different sort of emotional immediacy, as he is making the art piece, or recalling something to do with it.
Both segments of the book intersect and cross over in certain ways...but the main segment essentially deals with the original myth and his work on creating the piece he makes inspired by it, using bathroom scales he alters, or funky "Brady Bunch '70's clocks", the insides of irons, and things he likes. You read a vaiety of discussions and tales of the processes he goes through in order to do create his art pieces.
The notebook part basically discusses life stories: where he was when he found something, how he was feeling, why it was great.
What is super unique and good about this book?
Without being "grand" about it, Michael de Meng explains that artists are the people who climb to the top of the pyramid...who get that chance to look all around with that "all seeing eye" (he mentions eyes quite a bit and uses them in his work frequently), and then, when inspired, they climb back down to earth and, without being frightened by being judged, express themselves through creating.
Some readers have commented that the photography is too dark in this book. I disagree. This is a mysterious book and the photography is perfect for it. It is extremely cool.
I don't want to be Mr. de Meng, however, if I lived near him, I would certinly take a class from him, because I believe he really has a lot to offer, and he offers up his heart and soul, in an incandescent manner, in this remarkable, fascinating book.
If I were teaching a class on found objects and altered art, I would insist that this book, The Secret of Rusty Things, by Michael de Meng, be on the reading list. It is illuminating.
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