ABOUT "DESPERADO" by GJ Gillespie

This cubist-inspired abstract figure is influenced by Italian expressionist Afro Basaldella, whose images often serve as a starting point in my art. After referencing one of his sketches, I reversed it and added my own collage interpretations to the form - achieving a unique, layered effect. 

Titled "Desperado" after the Eagles' iconic 1976 song (lyrics below), I composed while listening to 1960s rock.

My titles emerge only after finishing an artwork. While inspired by cultural connections only in hindsight, the poetry often resonates with the mood of my visual creations.

Constructed from painted and pasted snippets like found papers, newspaper clippings from grocery ads, translucent tissues and more - I build depth through diverse textures. My evolving mixed media process allows fresh representations of universal imagery and meaning to emerge.

I aim for my collage figures to become enigmatic entities that evoke existential emotion. By placing iconography in new contexts, I offer thought-provoking reflections on the profound interplay between art, culture and individual experience over the flow of history.

Desperado by GJ Gillespie.
Collage. 24 x 17. 2018.

Figure sketch by Afro Basaldella

Other figures based on the Afro design.

Fortunate Son by GJ Gillespie.
Mixed media collage on canvas. 28 x 22. 2023. 

Sloop John B by GJ Gillespie. 
Collage on canvas. 24 x 20 x. .5. 2022.

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Desperado  Eagles
Why don't you come to your senses?
You've been out ridin' fences for so long now
Oh, you're a hard one
But I know that you got your reasons
These things that are pleasin' you
Can hurt you somehow

Don't you draw the queen of diamonds, boy
She'll beat you if she's able
You know the queen of hearts is always your best bet
Now it seems to me some fine things
Have been laid upon your table
But you only want the ones that you can't get

Desperado
Oh, you ain't gettin' no younger
Your pain and your hunger
They're drivin' you home
And freedom, oh, freedom
Well, that's just some people talkin'
Your prison is walkin' through this world all alone

Don't your feet get cold in the wintertime?
The sky won't snow and the sun won't shine
It's hard to tell the nighttime from the day
You're losing all your highs and lows
Ain't it funny how the feeling goes away?

Desperado
Why don't you come to your senses?
Come down from your fences
Open the gate
It may be rainin'
But there's a rainbow above you
You better let somebody love you
(Let somebody love you)
You better let somebody love you
Before it's too late