'Scratch The Earth, Let The Telephone Ring' is a rare early example of the small-scale assemblages that American artist Joel Jaeks began producing in the 1980s. As with all of his assemblages, the artwork is constructed inside an envelope-sized paper board box – then filled with what can only be called memories, ideas and fading dreams. 'Scratch The Earth, Let The Telephone Ring' is covered on the exterior and interior by splatters of blue and red paint, applied with the same vigor as the Abstract Expressionist canvases of Jackson Pollock. On the back, four squares cut from a screenprint of a winter landscape form a window to the themes on the inside: pasted on the back, a Victorian postcard of Santa Claus riding a penny-farthing bicycle through the snow is humorously obscured by a line of text reading "Hydrofoils added to the stock boat give a smooth, fast ride." On a plane at the top, a nail wearing a rubber band as a bow pierces an image of large farm equipment in the field. It is probably this image of farm equipment working the land for which Jaeck's adapted the title 'Scratch The Earth, Let The Telephone Ring' from the first two lines of the Tears for Fears song 'Start of the Breakdown': "Scratch the ice, let the telephone ring."

9 x 4 x 2 inches
Titled and dated by the artist on the base
Overall good and stable condition; some buildup of dust; some toning to paper board