188 GALERIE Blog: cutting edge collage

With the new collage exhibition slated for April, 188 Galerie is inspired to share this piece on the history and technique as well as the art and craft of collage.

Collage is a visual art medium and expressive craft process of assembling varied materials to create a whole new piece. The term collage is derived from the French coller, meaning 'to glue.'

Collage emerged from the cubist gluing and pasting explorations of Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso, who in the beginning of the 20th century transformed the medium into a distinctive part of modern art.

According to collage expert and historian Gerald Brommer, “As a result of its experimental genesis, collage has continued to serve not only as a primary form of expression for many prominent artists, but as a principal means of evaluating and developing new creative strategies.”

Collage has been around since the development of paper in China in 200 B.C. However the process only became common practice in 10th Century Japan when calligraphers and poets began gluing their texts to paper and other surfaces.

Collage did not appear in Europe until the 13th Century, in their Medieval gold leaf and Gothic architecture and iconography.

Throughout history it became a popular practice for hobbyists who created books compiled of images and texts they fancied - until the early 20th Century when the form eventually evolved into fine art.

We all recall the simple projects we did as children at home and in school - even if many of us never pursued this further into the complex and sophisticated masterpieces of a true artist.

Even those who believe they do not possess an artistic bone in their body, are amazed at what they accomplish when they collage. In our digital age, to cut and paste can be easily achieved and more convenient with the latest gadgets and toys.

You don’t have to know how to draw, paint or sculpt, yet you can do all these things when you collage. When you pick up a pair of scissors and cut, you redraw lines and create anew - to remake and reshape your own forms.

When you choose images with specific colors, textures and light, you capture and reframe these in a new context of your own. When you pick structural elements on which to build your collage, you are sculpting and adding dimension to them.

Modern and contemporary artists, painters, designers and photographers have used these techniques to expand the realms of their artistic range - as can we.