WORDS TO LIVE BY
“Art is sort of an experimental station in which one tries out living”
― John Cage
The latest collage news and inspiration!
Enjoy!
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NEWS
As a young artist socializing with other Spanish Surrealists, Varo often took part in a game that was particularly popular among the group. Titled The Exquisite Corpse, this game was a group activity during which a person started writing a sentence on a piece of paper, folded it, and passed it to a person next to them. The next person would continue the sentence without knowing its content. After several rounds of this, the paper was unfolded, and the nonsensical text was read out loud and interpreted. Varo and her colleagues essentially did the same, but instead of writing, they focused on making drawings and collages. The results were astonishing: the absurd compositions of humans, animals, objects, and letters made no conscious sense but tapped deeply into the unexplored corners of the Surrealist mind. The group was so proud of the result that they even sent some of the collages to Parisian artists to prove that the Spanish Surrealism was a force of its own. - Remedios Varo: The Surrealist Artist in 7 Works and 7 Facts - via The Collector
Kaycee's medium can be an underestimated form. Collage is something all of us do at some point in our lives — when we are small in school putting together book reports, or as we grow into ourselves and create vision boards for our future. If this is how you think of collage, I encourage you to go see Kaycee's work in person. Kaycee took this medium to a new level, cutting and placing small fragments of discarded material and making it into something entirely new, unrecognizable from where it began and with story and meaning and emotion. Her work looks like painting; each piece of paper thought about and placed with intention and meaning. - Out Creating With The Kaycee Anseth Legacy Foundation - via Source Weekly
I like that collage is a way to deal with the language of painting without actually using paint. It’s still color, it’s still shape, it’s still texture. I think that the most historical precedent for me is actually like mid-’90’s D.C. hardcore albums, like Fugazi or a lot of the Dischord Records. Some of those albums are so beautiful, and the album covers featured a lot of collage and interesting design choices. I love them as art objects and images. Also, when I was in middle school and high school, I made zines, like everybody else at that time, and so I was always sort of combing through books and making collages. It’s just something I’ve always done. - In His Manhattan Apartment, Edward Holland Reaches for Constellations - via artnet
My medium is collage and I apply this methodology to all my different creative platforms – both music and visual art. It’s all a process of cutting ideas from something and then reassembling these ideas to make something new.
So, I try to fill my life with as much inspiration as possible in terms of books and other source material: films and documentaries accessed and downloaded from YouTube have become my latest obsession. In terms of actual art, I think sculpture, especially installation sculpture, is most intriguing to me. - Creative artist Felix Laband: ‘Art should not have to be pretty; it should haunt you’ - via Daily Maverick
It’s easy to get lost in the surrealistic details, lush textures, and uncanny colors in Sara Nickleson’s entrancing oil paintings. After experiencing a reprieve from her depression symptoms via psychedelic therapy, Nickleson began working with intuitive drawing and digital collage as a form of self-empowerment and advocacy, eventually moving her intricate worldbuilding into oil paintings. She graduated this May from Cranbrook’s MFA program in painting, and I’m looking forward to seeing the trajectory of her career and practice. - The Art We’re Obsessed With in May 2024 - via Artsy
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!
And last but not least, have a look at and/or submit to our ‘other’ Instagram account Paris Collage Collective Unlimited where we showcase collages that have absolutely nothing to do with our weekly creative challenge.
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