Created while Wisconsin residents were sheltering in place earlier this spring, Steve Cotherman’s Pandemic Series – Bars & Stripes consists of a set of nine collages, four of which have been selected for this post. The creation of each piece begins with a single photograph (often, one of Cotherman’s earlier, representational pencil drawings or pastel paintings, and in one case, a vintage apple corer) which he cuts into equally sized, perfectly linear strips. He then reorders (he might prefer the term “remixes”) these pieces, vertically arranging and affixing them to complete each work.

In some collages (for example, Collage I), viewers may recognize the black and gray outlines, shading, and crosshatching of traditional graphite-on-paper drawings. Other collages (Collage V and Collage VIII) recombine pieces of photographs of Cotherman’s pastel work, introducing bold colors and juxtapositions of gestural and angular lines into the series which amplify the final images’ abstract aesthetic. Collage IX, the most recent piece in this series which he describes as his “steampunk” work, differs from the others in that it was made from his own photograph of a vintage mechanical apple corer. Gear teeth, screwheads, and tightly coiled springs jut toward the viewer or recede into the background, out of focus.

Like Cotherman assembling his collages, viewers of this series must piece together the meaning(s) of these works for themselves. The series’s title puns on the popular nickname for the American flag, an image and object heavy with meanings and symbolisms that has frequently been used by artists both to celebrate this country's successes and illuminate its problems. The flag's “stripes” are clearly referenced in the thin strips that repeat across all nine works. But Cotherman reorients these horizontal stripes, turning them into the striking vertical “bars” of the title and asking us to consider the implications of his use of that word and of his bar-like imagery. The wordplay in the series’s title and the brightly colored aesthetic of these artworks suggest a level of playfulness and humor, but these more serious associations complicate this levity. Cotherman presents viewers with a series of deliberately abstract works that slash, rearrange, and obfuscate his own older artworks. The end result is an often colorful yet ambiguous series made during a period of confusion and uncertainty from our very recent past.

To see all nine works in Cotherman’s Pandemic Series – Bars & Stripes in person, as well as other works by him, Milt Lorber, and Wei Lan Lorber, we invite you set up an appointment to view Lorber, Lorber & Cotherman. Slots are available every Wednesday through Saturday between the hours of 1 PM and 5 PM throughout the month of August. Please call (715) 373-5591 or send an email to WashburnCulturalCenter@gmail.com to set up an appointment to view this trio of local artist’s surprising and excitingly varied artwork. Please note that this exhibition is open to the public by appointment only, and for the continued safety of all, masks are required of all visitors. While we encourage you to see this exhibition in person, a virtual slideshow featuring photos of the installed show is available to view here.