MAKING A COLLAGE IS AN ACT OF SALVAGE. THE COLLAGE MAKER, IN SHAPING AND STITCHING TOGETHER BROKEN BITS AND CASTAWAYS FROM EVERY-DAY LIFE, GIVES THESE FRAGMENTS A SECOND CHANCE: AN OPPORTUNITY TO ACQUIRE NEW MEANINGS, PERHAPS EVEN A MEASURE OF BEAUTY.
EVERY COLLAGE ELEMENT-EVERY SHAPE, LINE, OR PATCH OF MATERIAL-LEADS A DOUBLE LIFE. ON THE ONE HAND, EACH FRAGMENT IS RECOGNIZABLE AS WHAT IT USED TO BE, A WORTHLESS PIECE OF WALLPAPER, FABRIC REMNANT OR TORN ROPE. ON THE OTHER, THAT SAME FRAGMENT IS AN ENTIRELY NEW THING TRANSFORMED BY ITS NEW CONTEXT AND CONNECTIONS TO OTHER FRAGMENTS.
COLLAGES ARE LESS ABOUT FORMS AND MORE ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN FORMS. IN COLLAGE, ONE THING LEADS TO ANOTHER: ONE FORM MIRRORS, EXTENDS, OR TRANSFORMS THE PATTERNS AND QUALITIES OF ANOTHER. SUCH AESTHETIC CONTINUITIES CAN BE BOTH UNEXPECTED AND OUTRAGEOUS. THE WOODEN OFFICE CHAIR JUXTAPOSED TO A TRADITIONALLY STRETCHED OIL PAINTING IN ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG'S 1960 PILGRIM SEEMS A STARTLING AND EVEN PREPOSTEROUS INTRUSION. BUT AS WE LOOK CLOSER WE MAY BE EQUALLY SURPRISED BY THE MANY QUALITIES LINKING CHAIR TO PAINTING: FOR INSTANCE, BY THE CANVAS'S RHYTHMIC STRIPES THAT ECHO THE CHAIR'S VERTICAL BACK SLATS, OR THE WAY THE TWO MERGE IN A DYNAMIC SWEEP OF COLORS.
MORE SO PERHAPS THAN OTHER ARTISTIC MEDIA, COLLAGE HAS THE CAPACITY TO BREAK BOUNDARIES AND CHALLENGE OUR SENSIBILITIES AND EXPECTATIONS. TRASH AND TASTELESS BITS TRESPASS INTO THE REALM OF ART. WHAT WAS ONCE DISTINCTLY INARTICULATE AND INARTISTIC IS NOW SELF-CONSCIOUSLY AESTHETIC, CONSCIOUS ALSO OF ITS MUNDANE OR VULGAR PAST. ART AND LIFE OVERLAP. THIS SUPERIMPOSITION EVOKES BOTH A SENSE OF PROFOUND RUPTURE AND UNEXPECTED HARMONY. THE PECULIAR HARMONY OF COLLAGE REMAINS HOWEVER PRECARIOUS AND INCOMPLETE, TINGED WITH CONFLICTS, IRRELEVANCIES, AND INCONSISTENCIES.
AS AN ART FORM COLLAGE STARTED WITH EXPERIMENTS BY BRAQUE AND PICASSO WHO, IN THE FALL OF 1912, BEGAN GLUING REAL, OFTEN DELIBERATELY CHEAP AND MASS-PRODUCED MATERIALS (NEWSPAPERS, STRINGS, "FAUX-BOIS" OIL CLOTH, INEXPENSIVE WALL PAPER) TO THE SURFACE OF THEIR CUBIST STILL-LIVES. "MY DEAR FRIEND BRAQUE," WROTE PICASSO IN A LETTER DATED OCTOBER 9, 1912, "I AM USING YOUR LATEST PAPERISTIC AND POWDERY PROCEDURES. I AM IN THE PROCESS OF CONCEIVING A GUITAR AND I USE A LITTLE DUST AGAINST OUR HORRIBLE CANVAS." YET WHILE PICASSO'S ICONOCLASTIC "DUST IN THE EYES" BEGAN LESS THEN ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO, THE METHODS AND IDEAS OF COLLAGE HAVE BEEN AROUND FOR AS LONG AS HUMAN BEINGS HAVE BEEN MAKING ARTIFACTS. THE WORLD IS FILLED WITH MODEST COLLAGES: A WORK TABLE MADE OF RECYCLED WOOD, A HOME-MADE TOY, A NEW WALL BUILT OF OLD BRICKS AND RUBBLE.
THE COAT OF ST. FRANCIS, A THIRTEENTH CENTURY RELIC DISPLAYED IN ASSISI'S BASILICA MIGHT HAVE INSPIRED ARTIST ALBERTO BURRI'S SACCO COMPOSITIONS OF THE 1950'S. MADE FROM FABRIC REMNANTS, WORK CLOTHES, AND USED BLUE-JEANS, QUILTS BY AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN IN ALABAMA'S GEE'S BEND COMMUNITY ARE VIBRANT, RHYTHMIC COLOR FIELDS RECALLING PAINTINGS BY JOSEF ALBERS OR SOPHIE TAUBER'S CROSS-STITCHED COMPOSITIONS. COLLAGES CAN ALSO BE THREE DIMENSIONAL OBJECTS SUCH AS DADA ASSEMBLAGES OR ARCHITECTURE THAT INCORPORATES OLD OR FRAGMENTED STRUCTURES ALONG WITH NEW CONSTRUCTION, FOR EXAMPLE THE TATE MODERN BY SWISS ARCHITECTS HERZOG & DE MEURON. ORIGINALLY A POWER PLANT, THIS BUILDING WAS TRANSFORMED INTO AN ART MUSEUM BY INTRODUCING A NEW STEEL STRUCTURE AND CREATING NEW INTERIOR SPACES WHILE ALSO RETAINING THE BUILDING'S OLD BRICK WALLS
ON MY WAY TO WORK EACH DAY, I WALK BY AN ANONYMOUS COLLAGE: A SMALL GARDEN STAIR. ITS FIRST STEP IS FORMED BY A LARGE PRE-CAST CONCRETE CATCH BASIN WITH AN IRON MANHOLE COVER. THE OTHER THREE STEPS ARE COMPOSED OF METICULOUSLY FITTED BLUE-GRAY SLATE STONES FRAMED BY PIECES OF WEATHERED WOOD. CAREFULLY JOINED TOGETHER, THESE DISPARATE MATERIALS FORM ONE RHYTHMIC STAIR METERED TO THE HUMAN STEP. HAD I NOT BEEN WORKING ON MY OWN COLLAGES, I MIGHT NEVER HAVE NOTICED THIS DELIGHTFUL STAIR. THE LESSONS OF COLLAGE PERHAPS EXTEND TO ALL ART FORMS. COLLAGE SUGGESTS THE IDEA THAT NEW AND OLD, PAST AND PRESENT, WORTHLESS AND BEAUTIFUL MAY OVERLAP. COLLAGE TEACHES US THAT ART CAN UNCOVER AESTHETIC DELIGHTS NOT ONLY IN THE GALLERY OR MUSEUM BUT ALL AROUND US, IN THE LANDSCAPES OF EVERY-DAY LIFE.
SANDA ILIESCU
