Cecil
Touchon’s art
stands on an equal footing with the most culturally relevant work being
done
today. Perhaps no other artist so subtly projects a coherent,
Janus-like view
of the past and the future simultaneously, nor describes the flashpoint
of
their interface by means of such elegant and sensuous forms. In a world
forever
changed by technology, he gathers the shining fragments of the once
familiar
intellectual environment, edits, hones and reassembles them into a
essence that
transcends time or language. The resulting iconic images project a
wisdom
beyond their physical presence. Weathered yet newly minted, forthright
yet respectful
of sensibility, they project a clear statement that resonates silently
with
depths to be fathomed over a lifetime.
These
images are informed
by Touchon’s tireless advocacy of generative ideas and ideals, which he
conducts on a world wide scale as an ambassador of emerging global
culture. A
decade ago, he founded the International Museum of Collage, Assemblage,
and
Construction (IMCAC). He continues to curate traveling exhibitions of
collage
art by hundred’s of artists from around the world who have contributed
to and
are represented in the museum’s growing collection. He established and
maintains a communication network through the institution’s various
listservs
and websites including, www.collagemuseum.com, itself a
wing of his
larger project; the Ontological Museum (OM), www.ontologicalmuseum.org,
an experiment in a new kind of museum. This organization counts among
its
associates the International Post Dogmatist Group, The International
Society of
Assemblage and Collage Artists, the Massurrealist Society
International, the
FluxNexus, ( a group of contemporary fluxus artists) and the Neoist
Society.
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Ultimately,
however, it
is Touchon’s own timeless art – outside of context, outside of
chronology, and
outside of conventional boundaries – that wields the most powerful
influence of
all. Touchon is a major artist whose work has been featured in
scholarly
publications as well as American and European museum exhibitions. He
enjoys an
attentive audience in New York and points spreading east, west, north,
and
south of there. His work hangs in private residences and in scores of
corporate
collections. Sought after by contemporary galleries, Cecil Touchon’s
art has
become so familiar that it has sunk into the collective subconscious,
where it
furnishes bright signposts and wise conundrums to the thinking eye.
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Suzanne Deats 2007
