The 'titles' of the collages in this series are microfictions that the artist thinks of as collaborating with the images rather than describing what is taking place.

 

PLEASE NOTE: Full title of piece is AS FOLLOWS: Shortest Story 7: I closed my eyes, suddenly remembering the game we used to play on the continuous slope of lawn that extended from house to street, an expanse of green interrupted only by the concrete lines of sidewalks leading to every house. Mother, may I, we would ask, before hopping, creeping, whatever was commanded, towards the Mother of the game. If you forgot to ask for permission you had to go all the way back to where you started. Usually, that meant you would lose, but it was possible that everyone else, just as eager to advance, would also forget. It could happen. In fact, with a rare, poetic justice, it just had.  

 

 

Maria Porges, an artist and writer, is an Oakland native. The recipient of a SECA award from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, her studio practice focuses on sculpture, drawing and collage; over twenty solo shows of her work include exhibitions at galleries, museums and alternative spaces.  She received a BA from Yale University and an MFA from the University of Chicago, and has taught or lectured at many art schools and universities, including Stanford, SFAI, Art Center in Pasadena, UC Davis and Berkeley, Cranbrook, and University of Illinois at Champaign. She is an Associate Professor in the Graduate Fine Arts program at CCA in San Francisco. Since the early ‘90s, Porges’s critical writing has appeared in many publications, including Artforum, Art in America, Sculpture, the New York Times Book Review, squarecylinder.com, her blog wordsaboutart.com, and many long-gone art magazines.