HELLO EVERYONE,
and welcome to this week’s edition of our weekly newsletter called, because it comes out every week, The Weekender. Short(er) and sweet this time.
We were hoping to have a big announcement to make about the Rachid Taha exhibition today. Unfortunately, we are still waiting to get the official exhibition poster. Our little show is part of a much bigger event celebrating the renaming of the Paris Anim’ Centre Rachid Taha, organized in collaboration with the Mairie du 18ème. That’s the mayor’s office responsible for that particular arrondissement of Paris, and needless to say we are not their top priority. Which is totally fine. We’re super happy to have this opportunity to get a bunch of international collage artists up on their walls.
So today will be more of a quiet insider announcement to you select few who read this newsletter. We would have loved to tell you sooner, but the details and dates took a long time to get finalized, and there was a very, very small risk that the exhibition part would not get financed at all, so we waited, and waited some more, and waited some more. We didn’t want to have to go back on our word.
So here we go – a proper announcement with all the details, bells and whistles will come out next week, in both English and French, as part of our new Short Cut newsletter, and on Instagram of course.
en collaboration avec / in collaboration with
PARIS ANIM’ Centre Rachid Taha
HOMMAGE TO RACHID TAHA
Exhibition May 09, 2023 - June 03, 2023
vernissage & inauguration
May 11, 2023 – 6:30 p.m.
We received over 250 collage portraits from 45 different countries. 70 finalists were chosen for the print edition of this open call, and 34 for the exhibition here in Paris. We would have loved to exhibit everyone’s work, but both space and budget are limited. The artists on show can be seen here.
If you want to see all the work created for this Open Call, please check out the hashtag #pccrachidtaha on Instagram.
Many thanks to everyone who contributed, and we hope you are as excited about this exhibition as we are.
And now the latest collage news and inspiration.
Enjoy!
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NEWS
Frida Orupabo works with multi-layered collages and Instagram posts using material circulated online to ask questions on race, sexuality and identity, as the Norwegian Nigerian artist and sociologist creates archival reworks that reject one-dimensional depictions of Black lives. Nominated for her exhibition ‘I have seen a million pictures of my face and still I have no idea’, originally shown at Fotomuseum Winterthur in Switzerland, Orupado explains: ‘My work is a way of sorting things, sorting emotions and thoughts I have. It's a way of speaking…’ - Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2023: meet the nominees - via Wallpaper
This work is a manifestation of Dalí’s collage-like technique, though it isn’t, in fact, a collage. (You’d be forgiven for thinking it was, even when viewing the artwork in person.) In reality, Dalí clipped a magazine image of the actress Mae West and applied wash on the surface to lend it a collage-like appearance; Haskell considers it “an assisted Readymade.” - Six Works by Salvador Dalí Now on View at the Chicago Art Institute - via ARTnews
Last year Tezeno’s Joy, Compassion, Generosity (2022), depicting three Black women amid a burst of spring flowers, was acquired by the Dallas Art Museum from the fair, making it her first work owned by a museum. “Evita has such an amazing mastery of harmony and beauty,” enthused Anna Katherine Brodbeck, the Hoffman Family Senior Curator of Contemporary Art at the Dallas Museum of Art. “Her work is so immediately visually striking, with such attention to texture and detail in her use of individually manipulated and collaged paper. It vibrates with a beautiful, generous spirit.” - The Rising Dallas Artist Spotlighting Black Life—And Black Joy—In the South - via Vogue
The 20-something artist works in a variety of media, but collage is the one she loves. “It’s this burst of complete and utter excitement. It’s this feeling where I’m like, ‘Oh, this is why I’m here,’” she said recently - Meet Doriana Diaz, a Philly collage artist making her next move - via technical.ly
PCC: The catalogue for our Rachid Taha Open Call is finally, finally out and available here
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
FROM THE ARTIST DIRECTORY - OLD & NEW
Martin Došek
I've always liked to look at pictures in magazines and not even read the text much. I looked at the picture and made up my own story to go with it. Or I was just switching TV channels and being entertained by a piece of the story out of context. I admired the torn posters on the streets. I watched people and wondered where they were going, what they were thinking. And when I started making collages, I actually just picked up all off that (magazine pictures, memories, stories and feelings) and cut and glued it together.
When a collage is being made, I have an idea of what it should look like, but sometimes it kind of starts to live a life of its own and I get different images under my scissors than I was looking for and I realize that they're actually a much better choice than the ones I was searching for. The randomness that goes into the creation is just another fun element to my playfulness. More here
Mar Cerdeira
My work is inspired by nature and my vision of the world. Through photography and vintage botanical illustrations I create my collages to convey the beauty that I find in the most everyday moments or places. More here
Stella Kalaw
Stella Kalaw is a photographer, artist, and writer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She stumbled upon collaging while searching for a sustainable creative practice. She dabbled with it for several years until the lockdowns during Covid-19 renewed her interest in the medium. Since then, she has immersed herself in it. Photography-based imagery is often the center of her work, complementing it with a pared-down collage aesthetic. Akin to jazz improvisation, she creates pieces using her imagination and whatever elements/materials she has available. Ultimately, the process is what matters. More here
Sandra de Boerdère
Je fais quelquefois des collages isolés mais je travaille souvent par série à travers des thématiques concrètes ou symboliques. Le fil rouge pouvant autant être la géométrie que le papier troué, la politique ou l’onirisme…
Je privilégie quelquefois la couleur, d’autres fois le noir et blanc ou le sépia. J’investis tout l’espace ou explore l’épure.
Je m’intéresse autant à la composition qu’à la texture plurielle du papier.
Sur une table recouverte de morceaux déchirés ou découpés il y a quelquefois d’heureux hasards, des assemblages auxquels je n’aurais pas pensé et qui vont donner une direction et «laisser parler les p’tits papiers». More here
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
Thank you for the feature, Petra! Happy Weekend to you.