Todd Bartel

Lives and works in Watertown, Massachusetts, USA

Artist statement

The history of collage and the history of landscape is the same story—a story in which natural resources, territorialism, capitalism, and ecological imperatives clash. I engage a semiotic-based, research-based studio practice through serial work. The roots of my inquiry branch back to the late 1980s in a decades-long inquiry that aims to unpack our shared global predicament in the era of the Anthropocene. Earthworks In 2020 I began engaging with environmental art as a way of expanding my studio practice to include site-specific possibilities. Real Landscapes A rule-based series of puzzle-piece-fit (interlocking collage) landscape collages, created by cutting up artist's depictions of land. Homages I am interested in art appropriation as a vehicle to redress cultural conditions. Landscape Vernacular The LV collage series is an ongoing body of work I began in the spring of 2011 that explores landscape terminology and imagery. I cull text from a small collection of dictionaries, dating from the early 1800s to the present but also incorporate text from various landscape-related documents. I juxtapose definitions with period ephemera to explore ideas and attitudes about land and land use, while also addressing the history of landscape painting, American identity, and contemporary ecological issues. I use a collage process I have evolved, in which all collage elements are cut to fit together precisely, similar to inlaid veneer in fine woodworking. Cut pieces are burnished on the...

Artwork

• Another Scapegrace Turning Point (Cole’s Erratics), 2025. burnished interlocking collage, xerographic-transfers on 20th- and 19th-century endpapers
• Earth's Green Mantle (Feedback), 2024. burnished interlocking collage, xerographic-transfers on 20th- and 19th-century endpapers
• Magnificent Desolation, 2024. burnished interlocking collage, xerographic-transfers on 20th- and 19th-century endpapers
• Gravity Roads—America Learns to Shoot 1829 - 1888, 2023. burnished interlocking collage, xerographic-transfers on 20th- and 19th-century endpapers
• Dangerous Dualism, 2023. burnished interlocking collage, xerographic-transfers on 20th- and 19th-century endpapers
• Two Trees, 2023. burnished interlocking collage, xerographic-transfers on 20th- and 19th-century endpapers
• Surrender to Commensalism, 2023. burnished interlocking collage, xerographic-transfers on 20th- and 19th-century endpapers
• This Is A Landview [Beals Preserve Installation], 2021. cut earth, turned soil, Helvetica
• Consume [Beals Preserve Installation], 2020. uncollage, inkjet print, Epson Enhanced Matte Paper, acrylic, Sugar Maple
• Grift Grift (Given Climate Change: °90N / °90S) [v.2 Plastic Tree], 2021. 1800s iron, 1950's Marx Playset Plastic Tree, Gorilla Super Glue
• Todd Bartel — Interlocking Collage, 2022
• Real Landscape NO. 8A (Wetlands Then; Drylands Now) , 2022. burnished interlocking collage using auction house catalog cuttings, archival book repair tape, watercolor
• Real Landscape No. 6 (View From A Roman Window), 2021. burnished interlocking collage using auction house catalog cuttings, archival book repair tape
• Real Landscape No. 7 (The Invention of Western Perspective, with Rising Sea Level and a Desert Roof), 2021. burnished interlocking collage using auction house catalog cuttings, archival book repair tape, bowling alley wax
• Real Landscape No. 3 (View from the Mouth of the Cave), 2018. burnished interlocking collage, watercolor, auction house catalog page cuttings, document repair tape
• Designer Landscape No. 1 (American Version) [left]; Designer Landscape No. 2 (European Version) [right], 2011. burnished interlocking collage using auction house catalog cuttings, archival book repair tape, watercolor
• Real Landscape No. 2 (Tools of Both Trades), 2006. burnished, interlocking collage, using auction house catalogs, with archival tape, in artist-designed Plexiglass frame
• Real Landscape No. 1 (View from a Roman Window), 2005. burnished, interlocking collage, using auction house catalogs, with archival tape, in artist-designed Plexiglass frame
• Transplantation No. 3 (Behind a Curtain), 2020. puzzle piece collage, auction house catalog magazine fragment, 19th-century endpages, negative sticker remnants, pencil, gouache, document repair tape
• Transplantation No. 2 (In the Background), 2018. puzzle piece collage, auction house catalog magazine fragment, 20th-century endpage, pencil, document repair tape
• Transplantation No. 1 (Through a Window), 2012. 1st puzzle piece collage experiment (2000), 19th-century endpage, tissue paper, Elmer’s glue; puzzle piece collage, auction house catalog magazine fragment, pencil, color pencil, watercolor, document repair tape
• Witness 15 a & B (Important Americana): Witness 15 a: Witness 15a Frederick Judd Waugh's 'Curling Waves' C. 1900, with a C. 1770 Chippendale Tabletop and Treetop Negative Space; Witness 15b: A Circa 1770 Chippendale Carved and Figured Mahogany Serpentine-Front Five-leg Card Table with Fragment from Frederick Judd Waugh's 'Curling Waves' c. 1900, 2021. burnished interlocking collage, auction house catalog cuttings, watercolor, document repair tape
• Witness 14 a, b, & c: Witness 14a: Unknown Antique Decorative Serving Table with Fragments from Francis A. Silva's 'A Midsummer's Twilight,' and Albert Bierstadt's 'Western Kansas'; Witness 14 b: A. Silva's A Midsummer's Twilight, with Tray Fragments from an Unknown Antique Decorative Serving Table; Witness 14c: Albert Bierstadt's Western Kansas with Tray Fragments from an Unknown Antique Decorative Serving Table, and Some Negative Space—A Twister for Dorothy, 2021. burnished interlocking collage, auction house catalog cuttings, watercolor, document repair tape
• Witness 12a & 12b: Witness 12a: "Extensive Landscape with a River and Mountains in the Distance," Attributed to Jacob Konica I (circa 1653) with Remnants from An Important Twelve-tile, Oak Tea Table by Gustav Stickley and Grueby Faience Company, Circa 1902; Witness 12b: An Important Twelve-tile, Oak Tea Table by Gustav Stickley and Gruby Faience Company, circa 1902 with Landscape Attributed to Jacob Konica I (circa 1653) , 2018. burnished interlocking collage, auction house catalog cuttings, watercolor, document repair tape
• Witness 11a A Landscape for Mark Tansey In A George III Mahogany Library Table (circa 1790) with Thomas Cole’s, “Oxbow: The Connecticut River Near Northampton”, 1846) ; Witness 11b: A Tabletop for Mark Tansey — George III, Library Tabletop circa 1790 Set Within Thomas Cole's, "Oxbow: The Connecticut River Near Northampton," 1846, 2018. burnished interlocking collage, auction house catalog cuttings, watercolor, document repair tape
• Witness 2 a & b: Witness 2a: Landscape with Table and Still Life (Skull) — “A View from Richmond Hill Along The River Thames Towards Twickenham,” by Francesco Zuccarelli, with “Marqueterie-De-Paille Side Table,” by Jean-Michel Frank; Witness 2b: Negative Space with Landscape (Family) — Space Left by Jean-Michel Frank’s “Marqueterie-De-Paille Side Table,” with “A View from Richmond Hill Along The River Thames Towards Twickenham,” by Francesco Zuccarelli , 2005. burnished interlocking collage, auction house catalog cuttings, watercolor, document repair tape
• Witness 1a Table with Landscape; Witness 1b Skyscape with Tabletop, 2005. burnished interlocking collage, auction house catalog cuttings, watercolor, document repair tape
• A Group of Nations Claiming Unity of Purpose or Common Interests [Landscape Vernacular No. 19], Collection of Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History, Middlebury, Vermont, 2022. burnished interlocking collage, xerographic-transfers on 19th-century endpapers and rain-washed, weather-beaten bulletin board paper; Vermont map graticules; etymology and definition of "community" (OED), Merriam-Webster's definition of "community"; xerographic transfer of "The Hiawatha Wampum Belt"; xerographic reproductions of "Middlebury Falls" engraving and page 29 of Samuel Swifts, 1859 "Statistical and Historical Account of the County of Addison, Vermont"; Henry Sheldon Museum's LS24946_000 "A Giant Tree Burl," 1870-1940 interpreted as an engraving; pencil, Yes glue, document repair tape; Collection of Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History, Middlebury, Vermont
• At the Precipice, A Clearing, A Lighting [Landscape Vernacular No. 18], 2022. burnished interlocking collage, xerographic-transfers on 19th-century and 20th-century end papers and rain-washed, weather-beaten bulletin board paper, dictionary definitions of "clearing," “paradise,” "oasis," "light tower," Martin Heidegger's description of "clearing," pencil, watercolor, wax paper transfer, Yes glue, document repair tape, artist=made frame
• Terrain, Scream and Cede—Industrial Locomotion 1844 [Landscape Vernacular No. 17], 2021. interlocking collage, rain washed and weather beaten bulletin board paper, staple rust, xerographic-transfers on 19th century end papers, map graticules, dictionary definitions of the word “pastoral,” pencil, Yes glue, document repair tape 27.5 x 16.5 inches
• Clearcut for Industry (Climate) [Landscape Vernacular No. 16], 2020. burnished interlocking collage, Italian Letter (dated 1998 verso), xerographic prints on nineteenth- and twentieth-century end-pages, pencil, Yes Glue, document repair tape, dictionary definitions
• Clearcut for Industry (Geomorphology) [Landscape Vernacular No. 15], 2020. burnished interlocking collage, nineteenth- and twentieth-century end-pages, xerographic prints, pencil, Yes Glue, document repair tape, dictionary definitions
• Glorious Mutualism, Asymmetrical Yet Reciprocal — Twenty-first Century Commensalism (A Call for A Massive Transfusion for Major Arboreal Trauma) [Landscape Vernacular No. 14], 2020. burnished puzzle-piece-fit collage, xerographic prints on nineteenth- and twentieth-century end-pages (left: How a Tree is Made into Lumber—lumberjack cutting a tree trunk into rectangular sections, Le Magasin Pittoresque, Larive and Fleury 1874; right: Clysmatica Nova, Joannes Sigismund Elsholtz 1667), pencil, map frame cuttings, wax paper transfer, Yes Glue, document repair tape
• Anima Hominis (Bonum Electum) [Landscape Vernacular No. 13], 2020. burnished, puzzle-piece fit collage, xerographic prints on 20th-century end pages, pencil, watercolor, Yes glue, title page from “Everyday People,” by Charles Dana Gibson, Collier’s Weekly, New York 1904 (with missing artifact), “Bellman's Map,” from Charles Dodgson aka Lewis Carroll’s 1874 “The Hunting of the Snark”, “Anima Hominis” pp. 54-54 of the “Orbis Pictus” 1658 (the first children’s book ever published in Europe), rudder diagram’s of the Mayflower and a Boeing 767 (the plane flown into the twin towers), definitions of “tiller” and “rudder” (Merriam-Webster)
• Anima Hominis (Corporeal Gestures Amidst Open Horizons) [Landscape Vernacular No. 12], 2019. burnished, puzzle-piece-fit collage, water-damaged title page and end page from “Anatomy” by William Rimmer, Little Brown and Co., Boston 1877, joined together/repaired with the title page from “Ordinary People,” by Charles Dana Gibson, Collier’s Weekly, New York 1904; xerographic prints on 19th- and 20th-century end-ages—“Bellman's Map,” from Charles Dodgson aka Lewis Carroll’s 1874 “The Hunting of the Snark”, “Anima Hominis” pp. 54-54 of the “Orbis Pictus” 1658 (the first children’s book ever published in Europe), rudder diagram’s of the Mayflower and a Boeing 767 (the plane flown into the twin towers), two definitions of “tiller” (Merriam-Webster; Dictionary Macintosh OSX)—two ink drawings on silk c. 1877 presumed to be drawn by the original owner of Rimmer’s “Anatomy”; antique straight pins, gouache, watercolor, pencil
• The Earth and Its Inhabitants Common School Geography [Landscape Vernacular No. 11], 2019. August 9, 2019, puzzle-piece collage, nineteenth-century end paper with leeched book title, 1899 map, Life Science (1965) title page (Weather), stamps, pencil and xerographic prints on nineteenth- and twentieth-century end-pages, with Webster’s dictionary definitions and excerpts from August 8, 2019 NPR report
• Gateway to the American Sublime—The Crawford Notch 1826 [Landscape Vernacular No. 10], 2018. burnished puzzle-piece collage, recto: W. H. Bartlet’s 1838 engraving (The Willey House), Xerographic transfers, digitally interpreted reproduction of Caspar David Friedrich’s “Wanderer Above the See of Fog,” 19th & 20th century end papers, weathered construction paper with staple-rust, pencil; verso: Xerographic transfers, pencil, document repair tape, Yes glue, antique masking tape, in artist made frame.
• Water Over the Bridge [Landscape Vernacular No. 9], 2018. recto: burnished puzzle-piece collage, 19th and 20th century book end-pages, dictionary definitions, 20th century map, 1880 Italian letter remnant, Xerographic print on 20th century book end-page (R. Dodd, engineer, Design for a Stonebridge, 1799, Plate III, “Report (1800) from the Select Committee Upon the Improvement of the Port of London,” proposal for the refurbishment of the London Bridge), Xerographic transfers, watercolor, graphite; verso: Xerographic transfers, watercolor, graphite, Yes glue, document repair tape
• Promise and Threat (Terror Comes After Territory), [Landscape Vernacular No. 8], 2016. recto: burnished puzzle-piece collage, 19th century book end pages, book engraving (View in the Valley of the Mohawk, James Duthie, c. 1870), 20th century map, gummed star labels; verso: stamps, Xerographic transfers, watercolor, graphite, document repair tape, Yes glue, artist made frame
• Proportions and Table Manners [Landscape Vernacular No.7], 2014. burnished, puzzle-piece fit collage, 19th-century papers, end pages, marbled papers, Xerographic prints on antique end pages, toner transfers on rain eroded bulletin board papers, canceled stamp and envelope remnant, pencil, antique cellophane tape, archival document repair tape, yes glue and dictionary definitions, artist-made frame