WORDS TO LIVE BY
“Draw the art you want to see, start the business you want to run, play the music you want to hear, write the books you want to read, build the products you want to use – do the work you want to see done.”
― Austin Kleon
The latest collage news and inspiration!
Enjoy!
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NEWS
Tamar Cohen just announced the launch of a new website devoted to the legacy of her mother, Elaine Lustig Cohen, who died in 2016. And quite a legacy it is—as painter, collagist and one of the first women graphic designers to run her own studio. The site is rich with both fine and applied art. My essay below was written when Elaine was awarded the AIGA Medal for lifetime achievement. - The Daily Heller: Elaine Lustig Cohen’s New Website - via Print
I have the great pleasure of walking to work these days. On the walk over to the studio, I start making a desired list of what needs to be done by the end of day. When I enter the studio, what I do depends on why I am there. My practice is expansive: I paint, I sew, I cut, I build, I draw, I collage, I frame, I edit, I write, I sing, I dream. Sometimes I pick up a broom, or watering can for the plants, wash the dishes from the day before. I like the idea of cleaning, setting, and curing a space before I start working. - In Their ‘Epic’ Lofted Studio, Artist Baseera Khan Paints, Collages, Draws, and Dreams - via artnet
Alexis Smith, a key artist of the Los Angeles scene whose collages explored celebrity culture and Californian mythology, has died at 74. Garth Greenan Gallery, her New York representative, confirmed her death on Wednesday. - Alexis Smith, Legendary Los Angeles Artist Who Pierced Hollywood’s Veneer, Dies at 74 - via ARTnews
Sassen’s personal experiences have significantly influenced her work, often infusing it with autobiographical elements. A notable example is her series of black-and-white self-portraits from the 1990s, shown here for the first time, which she describes as an act of reclaiming her body while working as a model: “I wanted to take back power over my own body.” Her recurring themes include the body, death, sexuality, and desire, and she continues to innovate in her approach. Since 2017, Sassen has been combining different media, blending painting and ink in series like Of Mud and Lotus and creating collages in Paint Studies (2021). - Vivian Sassen: The Art of Form - via Blind
A self-described tomboy, Smith became a habitual scavenger and collector of junk as a child. She gained an interest in collage around this time, too, clipping photos and combining them with text. - ALEXIS SMITH (1949–2024) - via Artforum
Smith created art on both an intimate and a large scale, indoors and outdoors, in traditional and untraditional settings. Her imaginative collages and assemblages have drawn on, not just borrowed — and sometimes edited — quotations by everyone from Milton to Kerouac and Gershwin, and also her recycling of such unexpected raw material as silverware, pressed flowers, seashells and discarded brooms. - L.A. artist Alexis Smith, a pioneer of art fusing image and text, dies at 74 - via Los Angeles Times
PCC
A selection of challenge submissions from last week is up on our website and can be seen here, the image prompt for next week is available to download here
Our 2024 Workbook is out and available for sale on our website. Our weekly creative challenge remains free and open to everyone and everything, digital or analog artists, French or not. The workbook is an optional add-on for those who prefer to work with paper and don’t want to print our images themselves. Like every year, the book is designed so that you can either take it apart or create your collages in the book itself. Week numbers and image sources are on the back of each image, so even if your books falls apart at one point, you will always know what’s what!
If you have any news about exhibitions, publications or events you want so share with the community, please send an email with all relevant information and at least one link to a website or venue to: hello@pariscollagecollective.com