“Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven's sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.”
― Kurt Vonnegut
The latest collage news and inspiration!
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NEWS
EXHIBITION: Behind the Walls - Collages by Emily Geirnaert in Paris, vernissage November 9th, 2023 at 7pm
READ: A synthesis of Adams’s practice in graffiti, street art, graphic design, painting, and collage, “Combinations” reflects his distinct style of visual storytelling. Speaking of the show, Adams said, “‘Combinations’ revisits early ideas and various styles spanning over 40 years of my art-making career. This current body of work reexamines societal and social structures in America that divide us. The primary goal of my art is to be a bridge that brings people closer together. Over the years, I’ve seen how graffiti, street art, and hip-hop have created a unified movement with lasting impact on popular culture.” - Spotlight: Def Jam Recordings Legend Cey Adams Riffs on Hip Hop and Pop Art Aesthetics in a New Austin Gallery Show - via artnet
READ: The collages are a continuation of a series Lorna began early in the pandemic that is part of her new show, Everrrything, on view at the Los Angeles outpost of her gallery, Hauser & Wirth. They were born, in part, from necessity. “I have a huge archive of materials to work from,’’ she explains. “It’s very simple. It’s just two elements. It’s based on intuition... What are the things that you’re most attracted to, without trying to over-intellectualise or force them into a particular paradigm of meaning?” - Photographer and multimedia artist Lorna Simpson on focusing on the personal and the politicial - via Harper’s Bazaar India
WATCH: The Kenyan artist cuts up trash cans and weaves the scrap metal into what looks like fabric. He then molds it into tapestries and sculptures - Tailoring Trash Successfully - via Deutsche Welle
READ: Copper wire winds through a 3D geo-collage called “Ebony and Ivory,” and jewelry mixed with rocks is layered atop several framed paintings. Her Arizona home offers unique artifacts like saguaro cactus boots - The Collector: Claudia Smith searches ground for rocks, feathers and other objects that become collages - via The Spokesman Review
READ: In the ’90s, Bowie became mesmerized by the computer because he thought that digital media would upend this collage process and make it accessible to everyone. When he collected other painters’ art—including a set of prized Basquiat pieces—he proceeded to upload copies of each work to a website and asked fans to download the images, manipulate them and re-upload them. This was in 1998. Yet the ironic part about Bowie’s fascination with computers is that computers cannot tell you to do something radically different. Machine intelligence—artificial intelligence—is inherently predictive, drawing from previous work and extrapolating a near-linear trajectory into future work - A Collage of Everything Imaginable - via Discourse
READ: The illustrations included in the book also show Wojnarowicz’s knack for collage. In a rudimentary combination of images simply titled Arthur, he takes a childhood portrait of the French poet and slaps two snakes onto it, as well as a speech bubble that reads, “YOU ARE NOT DREAMING … YOU ARE EXPERIENCING A POWERFUL FORCE FROM OUTER SPACE!” - An Intimate Record of a Love: On David Wojnarowicz’s “Dear Jean Pierre” - via Los Angeles Review of Books
PCC: 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!
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
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