Oxide, a new book by Craig Hickman, a professor in the UO Digital Arts Program, was featured in a recent issue of Hyperallergic.

Writer Allison Meier describes Hickman’s 128-page monograph as “[an] alternate reality with composites of photographs of decaying Americana, 19th and early 20th century U.S. Patent Office images, a 19th century costume text, and other archive imagery.”

Meier continues, “Some of the work is more obviously fiction than others, but where it works best is when, out of the context of Oxide, you might not realize it was a fabrication. All over cities and towns are these ghost signs and typography for vanished businesses that often appear as cryptic messages, the advertisements having outlived the products. The composite images are whimsically strange, but enjoyable to browse as a visual detective in what feels like a post-apocalyptic puzzle.”

Material that didn’t make it into the book is in a separate section of Hickman’s website.

Hickman is a cofounder of Blue Sky Gallery in Portland. He was recently honored as a pioneer who impacted Apple computers with his development of Kid Pix.

The UO Digital Arts Program is part of the UO Department of Art.

Above: Oxide is featured in a recent issue of Hyperallergic.