In this mixed media collage on wood panel Gray Kinda Suits* JonMarc Edwards composes laser cut stencils (mechanical uniformity) on a previously discarded painting to create a dialogue between the gray labyrinthine understructure of the old painting and the “painterly vibrancy” of the new.

Rather than choose to destroy or gesso over in its entirety the previous work JonMarc uses this opportunity to create a dialogue between abandonment and revitalization. The colors preform and stand out from the monochromatic gray and in doing so unmask the former painting’s languid monotony, turning an unresolved surface into a curious allure of panache and spontaneity.

JMe arranges the ready-made templates and intuits the brushy pastel colors to obscure past meanings and actions to form a new “exertion” between past and present. JM via camouflage of the ready-made stencil and his intuitive artistic gestures conceals but also articulates how even the seemingly innocuous surface can rematerialize and band together to create new vital works from past miscalculations.

*Grateful Dead title / ref