"Porcelain Nightmares" Satirical Bond Paperwork Collage by Mickey "Kano" Kane

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"Porcelain Nightmares" Satirical Bond Paperwork Collage

Elaborate collage by Mickey "Kano" Kane (American, 20th century). This piece is a satirical … Read more "Porcelain Nightmares" Satirical Bond Paperwork Collage

Elaborate collage by Mickey "Kano" Kane (American, 20th century). This piece is a satirical collage that mimics the ornate design of a bond certificate to critique the fragility of global systems and the false promises of progress. Held within the borders typically found on a bond certificate, are layers of circular shapes teeming with collaged pieces. Kano's heavy use of layers combined with small cut-out pieces creates an ordered yet chaotic central area which forces the viewer to slow down and search for the individual details. Found within this collage are bronze sculptures, textile patterns, pieces of traditional Chinese porcelain, weathered skulls, and precious stones.. This creates a world full of traditionally valuable objects which overwhelm the viewer and, as the words emblazoned across it suggest, create a "porcelain nightmare." Visually rich and symbolically loaded, the piece confronts viewers with the uneasy trade-offs embedded in the concept of “value.”

Signed and dated "Kano 90" bottom right.
Paper size: 19.88" H x 27.94" W

Mickey “Kano” Kane (American, 1939-2002) was born in Illinois and grew up in Sacramento, CA. Kane moved to the Pacific Coast and worked on mixed media panels - which he would refer to as a “Totem” – and detailed collage compositions. His collage work is generally satirical or critical in nature, frequently dealing with themes of money, capitalism, government, power, and debt. By contrast, his “Totem” sculptural work is abstract and free of direct symbolism, focusing instead on the aesthetics of the composition.

Original Member, Artist’s Cooperative Gallery

Artist’s Statement:
The Totem is indicative of the unfolding 21st Century, graphically and metaphorically. It is neither one side nor the other, nor does one side challenge or compete with the other. Each side cooperates and thus enhances the other so that both "sides" transcend that definition into a composition revealing that, indeed, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The Totem reflects the inner harmony that all sides, whether two or two thousand, are striving to manifest in their own inimitable way. See less