Jay McCafferty works within the tradition of assemblage and collage, constructing compositions from found paper ephemera, and mixed media elements that he layers and juxtaposes to create complex visual narratives. Through an unconventional marriage of traditional craft and natural forces, McCafferty often employs a magnifying glass to focus sunlight onto paper and fabric surfaces in a technique he calls solar burning. This painstaking method requires patience and precise hand control as he slowly traces marks, patterns, and imagery by concentrating the sun’s rays into intense pinpoints of heat that scorch and transform his materials without paint or ink. The resulting burns create tonal variations from pale amber to deep charcoal depending on exposure time and material density, producing marks that are simultaneously drawn and sculpted as the heat alters the physical structure of the substrate. McCafferty builds up layered compositions where organic, fire-edged forms interact with geometric structures and areas of flat color. His process binds him to weather conditions and the arc of daylight, making collaboration with environmental variables—cloud cover, seasonal sun angles, atmospheric clarity—an inherent part of the work’s creation. The textural quality of his collages results from this additive/subtractive method, where different materials and time periods coexist within a single plane, creating a sense of accumulated history and memory.

1980
Solar burns, acrylic on paper on canvas
36" h x 60" w

Artwork donated by Frederic Fekkai Beaute de Provence