This small collage is one that I might think of as a “pure collage”. It has no materials other than paper, there is no surface painting or preparation to the surface before collaging. This collage was created from a single page in a magazine. It was a car advertisement but when I looked at it the various patterns, they just spoke to me of ‘bird’. With scissors and a glue stick, I rearranged the elements of the advertisement into the image that I saw in my mind.
Collage can often: -imply connections -show comparisons -parody an aspect of society
The images take on new meaning in a new collage context, collage can subvert traditional meanings, multiply meanings and create work that can be interpreted in multiple ways. Both of these collages were created in response to a one word prompt. Perhaps you can guess the words from looking at them.
This collage was created in response to the one-word prompt of "Ideal", as I am referring to the absurdity of measuring beauty through the outward appearance.
This collage of a Zebra was created in response to the one-word prompt, "Zebra". In the collage, I am comparing the Zebra, not to a horse as we often do, but to the lines and stripes that are all around us.
Shametry, Collage 2019 (8.5 x 8.5 inches) $50 unframed on paper
Like artists working in any medium, collage artists deal with a number of elements and not just an image. In every piece of Art, artists are juggling: colour, line, shape, value and intensity of the colour. A number of other elements can be put into play such as: balance, colour compliments, texture, pattern, dissonance……
A geometric piece like this may seem ‘simple’ and ‘easier’ than a landscape but the same elements are at play. Imagine this piece with the 3 orange dots in the upper left corner removed. The upper corner would seem incomplete. In fact the 3 orange dots are repeat toward the lower right, drawing your eye across the piece. The vertical lines, dissect the blue and green rings, giving it a sense of depth. The rectangle at the bottom is grounding the piece and defining a space for the circles.
In the end, the composition works because all of the elements have been worked out by the artist, leaving the viewer with a piece that just seems to ‘magically’ work.
Slanted Road CD cover Pat Temple and the HiLO Players
In many of my collages the subject matter is colour, movement, dissonance, rhythm, pattern, depth…. instead of houses, people, landscapes and sunsets. This piece was created for a CD cover titled ‘Slanted Road’. I began with images of trees and roads but soon moved on to lines and circles that connected more to musical notes. My work moved from a literal interpretation of the title to something that would represent the music- an abstract concept. As a collage artist I am constantly deconstructing what is in front of me and putting it back together in a new way from a different perspective.
