Smash-up/Mash-up/Cut-up Series by Robert Koss

Artist’s Statement

In the Smash-up/Mash-up/Cut-up series of work, I have photographed plastic models that I made as a child. I place the models on bright Day-Glo poster boards. The colors of the boards are chosen to contrast with the colors of the model planes. For me, the colors evoke the promise and freshness of my childhood.

After initially photographing the intact models, I smash and then re-photograph them, capturing the positions in which the pieces landed. At times I combine the before (intact) and after (smashed) photographs, and at other times I just use the smashed images.

With the destruction of my childhood achievement, I bid goodbye to the bright promise of those younger days. The idea of chance juxtaposed with contrasting colors results in new artworks that reflect great visual depth, while evoking something bright and shiny from my past, albeit now broken and flawed.