“What art does — maybe what it does most completely — is tell us, make us feel that what we think we know, we don’t. There are whole worlds around us that we’ve never glimpsed.” Greil Marcus — Thursday August 21st — —

I love listening. It is one of the only spaces where you can be still and moved at the same time. — Nayyirah Waheed — Thursday August 21st — —

The idea is to die young as late as possible. — Ashley Montagu — Thursday August 21st — —

The Age of Collage

We are still inspired by the book named ‘The Age of Collage’ which was published by Gestalten a year ago. The book is a striking documentation of today’s continued appetite for destructive construction found in the art of collage. Showcasing outstanding current artwork and artists, the book also takes an insightful behind-the-scenes look at those working with this interdisciplinary and cross-media approach. The collages featured in this book are influenced by illustration, painting, and photography and play with elements of abstraction, constructivism, surrealism, and dada. Referencing scientific images, pop culture, and erotica, they reflect humanity’s collective visual memory and context. Among the featured artists are the highly talented Ashkan Honarvar and our friend, multitalent Sergei Sviatchenko.

The technique of collage fits perfectly into our current age. Raw visual material is collected by an artist and then combined in such a way as to abstract the individual elements enough that the artist’s own vision becomes prominent. Because collage’s references range from other artistic works and techniques to scientific images, pop culture, and erotica, these raw materials reflect humanity’s collective visual memory and context.

While illustration, painting, and photography continue to fundamentally influence collage, the featured work also plays with elements of abstraction, constructivism, surrealism, and dada. Collage gives artists more room to stake out diverse artistic positions than almost any other existing technique. Through confident cuts, brushstrokes, mouse clicks, or pasting, collage gives the impossible a tangible form—while turning our worldview on its head along the way. In their visual confrontation with reality in our digital age, which has already made geographic, temporal, and artistic boundaries obsolete, these artists celebrate and exaggerate simultaneousness.

The book which was edited by Dennis Busch, who has has been a collagist since 1989 giving him the perfect insight for this role, Robert Klanten and Hendrik Hellige. Silke Krohn, who is a curator and art historian who specializes in surrealism also contributed to the inspiring book, after she has already contributed her expertise to publications such as ‘Cutting Edges’ and one of our favorites ‘Everything Goes Right & Left If You Want It: The Art of Sergei Sviatchenko‘ According to Dennis Busch, “art should be able to laugh at itself. And to die laughing,” which in our eyes he exemplifies with this elegant and excellent overview of the post-modern art of collage.

For more information and to order online see here.