Collages

Influenced by Max Ernst and other surrealists, David Peniston has made collages in the traditional format since he moved to the San Francisco Bay area in 1979. Peniston’s collages are peopled with characters that have Parrot and Iguana heads as if in some kind of science fiction movie. They are engaged in having decadent lunches, eating pizza and drinking red wine at high noon, while couples in full evening wear dance unaware of their surroundings, immersed completely in themselves. In another scene, a Bison headed couple can be seen checking in, standing in the lobby of some swanky hotel. A black widow spider suspended by a silky thread comes between them and the front desk. They are pictured here with all of their “Excess” baggage, each labeled as if almost proud of their stigmata. Reminiscent of the Seven Deadly Sins, yet, as in the case of Pandora’s Box – one can always find, “Hope.”