Artist Statement: "I am fascinated by color and the textures I can achieve by building up and assembling things. I find colors used in commercial print and utilize them in a way that is original and transcendent. I believe that this is how the colors wanted to be used in the first place. They didn't want to be an ad, they wanted to be a work of art. By recycling them in my collage work, their true nature is revealed. Coming from a Industrial Design background, the process of fabrication intrigues me more than sitting down with a paint brush. Actually constructing with paper and other objects instead of paint pleases me more because of its tangibility."

Joe is inspired by his relationships with his family and friends. Each piece is an idea or collection of ideas that are related using different recurring symbols. The importance of mind, body and soul are big inspirations for each piece. The heart represents that which is most important to a person, that which gives their life meaning and focus. Ladders represent reaching a higher place, somewhere a person needs help getting to. The ladder could be family, friends...anything that can help someone reach something they cannot get to themselves. Cities represent the dark side of humanity. Joe's cities are never clean. They are always really muddled. The crosses are used with these images because cityscapes remind Joe of tombstones as seen from ground level in graveyards. He uses a lot of circles as well. He likes circles because they are continuous. Often the circle shape depicts planets within a piece, representing new frontiers. Joe uses stenciled human figures to represent himself, and they are inspired by a recurring flying dream he has had since childhood. The figure has become a symbol of that feeling he has in his dream of floating, of being exhilarated and excited about discovering a broadening of his perspective and an expansion of his point of view.

Joe is a hands-on person with a background in fabrication and sculpture who discovered collage technique through experimenting with the recreation of the color and shape of printed images he found pleasing. He became fascinated with the idea of using these existing colors within new shapes and soon found personal themes emerging quite naturally. Where traditional collage technique will include taking related subject matter images and pasting them to a board to try and get a movement or a general thought through a whole piece, Joe takes this process to another level. He will achieve something similar but with the images cut into hundreds of pieces of paper and reshaped rather than using the image in its original state. This results in work that is quite intricate, involved and unique. "I have been told my themes and use of color and shapes within my technique are unusual and thought provoking. That's why I think my work catches people's eye. It's not paint, it's not a drawing, it's something different."

Artist Bio: Joe Day began his artistic training at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh where he studied Industrial Design and Special Effects. Moving to Cleveland, he began his career as a sculptor at a laser tag arena building giant alien lizards. Gravitating toward theater work, Joe has constructed scenery, done scenic painting, and designed and built furniture and props. He is currently employed as the Prop Master for the Great Lakes Theater Festival. Joe has been pursuing his style of collage work for the past four years, utilizing a subtlety and detail that demonstrates his affinity for color use and symbols within recurring themes.