Balls in the Air

Cory Potter 

Balls in the Air

Mixed Media Collage

 12x12”

2019

“Someone donated a bunch of random books to my work. Knowing how much I loved to collage with old books, a person at the reception desk put this book of Art From the Third Reich in my mailbox with no explanation. Of course, being the gay, ultra-liberal that I am, I was shocked to find that. After asking around, I finally figured out why it was in my mailbox. At first I thought I’d throw it in the garbage, but I decided to at least look through it. I’ll admit that looking through it was half disgusting and half interesting but I was most intrigued by this promo photo for joining the Third Reich. It featured nude men throwing balls in the air and frolicking in the German countryside. I couldn’t believe a group that eventually exterminated so many gays would use this photo to convince men to join their army. So I decided the only way to use this was to make this image into the gayest collage I had done to date. In fact, the title of Balls in the Air, was a perfect fit before this collage was even finished.” - Cory Potter

Cory Potter is a Michigan-based artist who hoards paper for collage, paint for abstracts, and glitter for both. He is interested in the weird, the bright, the queer, the garish, the strange, and the unconventional and will use anything as an art supply. Like a squirrel, he is attracted to shiny things and free nuts. He’s been included in numerous Flint Institute of Arts Student Exhibitions, Arte Della Morte at Mainsail Collective (Flint, MI 2019), Kaleidoscope of Expression at Pontiac Creative Arts Center (Pontiac, MI 2019), and the Blick Art Materials Local Artist Winter Showcase (Detroit, MI 2019). During 2020, he participated in virtual exhibitions with the Detroit Deltas (Detroit, MI) and the Harvey Milk Festival (Sarasota, FL). Follow him on Instagram at @cup_of_coco.