John Derian

I bought this John Derian plate in Savannah at the Paris Market & Brocante. I'm poor, but I have a hard time not buying things with decorative arts imagery, so this came home with me, along with a roll of more affordable chandelier printed wrapping paper. Derian is popular: you can buy his stuff in his own store, as well as tons of other places internationally. Here is a description of his process, taken from his website, "John Derian, an avid collector of antique fruit, flower and animal prints, hand-paints borders over centuries-old ledgers and letters. He combines all these elements into charmingly eccentric collages, which are reprinted and pieced together in layers under glass accessories."

So, if I'm reading this correctly, does this mean he does indeed alter some of the original materials, and it's only the finished collages that are reprinted, not the originals? If this is true, it seems sort of wrong. Maybe it's only because I'm curatorially-inclined, but I would rather reproduce the images first, and then create collages from those. In examples like the chair plate there isn't really any collage going on, just the straight image. There is no reason to alter the originals in these cases, so I'm assuming he doesn't (just when there is actually a collage). Some of the collections feature multiple images from the same book, often botanical volumes, and I hope that he isn't cutting the pages out simply to be reproduced on plates.

All that said, I still bought this plate. It's only 5 3/4" in diameter, so I still haven't found the right place for it in my apartment. I planned on hanging it on the wall, but I think it needs companions.