Carmon Colangelo, “Mauve Sensing Green” (left) and “Remote Sensing” (right). Monotype relief prints, 47″ x 35″ each, both 2016.
The compass rose spins out of control. Rule marks climb over geographic boundaries. The map enfolds the symbols of its making.
In the exhibition “Here Be Dragons,” now on view at the Jonathan Ferrara Gallery in New Orleans, Carmon Colangelo, dean of the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, playfully but pointedly examines the limits of knowledge and the precarious social and political states that define our contemporary moment.
Printed at Flying Horse Editions in Orlando, these large-scale monotypes combine hand-drawing and digital manipulation with a range of materials and techniques designed to highlight the role of chance in shaping our own psycho-geographies. Drafting tools, leftover scraps from laser-cut architectural models and other found materials are recycled and reimagined as part of Colangelo’s personal taxonomy of images. The results are at once seductively tactile and spatially disorienting — and a fitting metaphor for the dangerous waters that, even in a time of increasing global connectivity, must surely lie ahead.
“Here be Dragons” remains on view through Dec. 31. For more information, visit jonathanferraragallery.com.
Carmon Colangelo, “Mauve Sensing Green,” 2016. Monotype relief print, 47″ x 35.” (Courtesy of the artist)
Carmon Colangelo, “Pointing Toward Africa,” 2016. Monotype relief print, 47″ x 35.” (Courtesy of the artist)
Carmon Colangelo, “Remote Sensing,” 2016. Monotype relief print, 47″ x 35.” (Courtesy of the artist)
Carmon Colangelo, detail, “Precarious World,” 2016. Print assemblage: monotype, digital and relief print, 72″ x 74″. (Courtesy of the artist)
Carmon Colangelo, detail, “Praying Mantis,” 2016. Print assemblage: monotype, digital and relief print, 64″ x 31″. (Courtesy of the artist)
Carmon Colangelo, “Eye Spy Composition #2,” 2016. Monotype relief print, 48″ x 32″. (Courtesy of the artist)
Carmon Colangelo, “Horizon,” 2016.
Print assemblage: monotype, digital and relief print, 44″ x 60″. (Courtesy of the artist)
Carmon Colangelo, “Recycler and Pink Slip,” 2016. Print assemblage: monotype, digital and relief print, 54″ x 70″. (Courtesy of the artist)
Carmon Colangelo, “Bloody Mess,” 2016. Print assemblage: monotype, digital and relief print, 30″ x 32″. (Courtesy of the artist)
Carmon Colangelo, detail, “Uncharted Waters,” 2016. Print assemblage: monotype, digital and relief print, 42″ x 68″. (Courtesy of the artist)
Carmon Colangelo, “Mauve Sensing Green” (left) and “Remote Sensing” (right), 2016. Monotype relief prints, 47″ x 35.”
