Backgrounds offer amazing character and content to an 'Unwilling Collaboration'.   They can dramatically set the tone and give the viewer a recognizable subject with which to begin devolving the interactions.    Each piece has an embedded timeline.  Images with apparent backgrounds make it simpler to see how each layer can be stripped apart and broken-down into individual actions.  These types of images highlight the parallels of the series to collage, the difference being, they are a grouping of artists rather then a mix of images.

In the basement of a bar in Brooklyn, Jackson Pollock's ghost was hanging out with some cans and markers.

Words are symbols for sound.  What makes sense is up to the listener.  This score reads like an atonal masterpiece of abstract opera.  The "emm's", "zeee's", "ohhh's" and "9's" pop off in the cacophonous surroundings of Union Square Station.

The position of the sun often plays a strong supporting roll in the overall composition.  From changing the brightness and intensity of colors to casting shadows, the time of day can change a 'bombed' out wall of paint into an illuminated canvas.  In this piece the smooth transitions in the background create a flawless setting to an emotional narrative with religious overtones.  Crowned and bearing the marks of stigmata, the abused subject appears in a free fall towards a world marked 'bastard', 

A close up of a loading dock in Manhattan.  This small composition is the archetype of the entire series.  The brown background sets the tone and builds with grey and white lettering disembodied from their words.  A wheat-pasted image has been eroded into an outline where a collection of stickers and tags create their own narrative.  The crowned jester wears a name tag while the "speculator" looks on.  Signed at the bottom with the word "Bisous", a French affection for 'kisses'.

 

A grey metal door in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn becomes the backdrop to a haunting image.  The pink outline pops with striking contrast against the deep red fill of one of the late 20th century's great villains.  One of my favorite elements of the 'Collaboration' series is the subtle use of the 3rd dimension.  The lock and its shadow on the left, like a small pendant or necklace, adds a unique contrast and texture to the composition while reminding the viewer that the image is more than just a flat wall.

An archeological dig where pinks and sepia tones collide with greens and textures as an image of an old street reemerges from the background.  This is an unusual find in the way that the wheat pasted image of the street scene is being revealed behind multiple layers.  Rare because the emerging subject highlights the inter-play between our sense of time, history, progress and nostalgia. 

A beautiful subject in and of itself.  Every once and a while a piece really stands out alone.  But to illustrate the concept of an Unwilling Collaboration" these pieces occupy an environment that is beyond control of the artist.    Still at the very early stages of what I would consider a true "collaboration", the continuity of the surrounding color palette joins the subdued expression of the main subject.  There is a hidden menace within the eyes seen through a face that expresses quite resignation echoed in the grey tones of the background and shadows.