The collage abuse series now has two large-scale collages fully completed to add to the several small exploratory pieces already made. Both sizes of work feel strong but the larger pieces offer the space to achieve an intensity and variation the smaller works don’t. To accrete n.05 delivers a tangible physical presence as the thirteen layers of paper from which it’s made shifts two-dimensional print towards three-dimensional form, an effect further emphasised if the picture is allowed to tilt forward slightly at the top.
If, as Eivind Buene suggests, collage is concerned with breaking ‘illusions of continuity’, operating in the nature of ‘a shock’ to ‘articulate discontinuity’, then the metal clips that fasten the paper serve to add further to this effect. (1) In the case of To accrete n.05, their brash gleam disturbs the otherwise more subdued finish of the printed surface. However, in To slice n.02 they add their otherness to the somewhat alien note of the mirrored surface the prints are mounted upon.
The precise subtleties of this series are difficult to capture adequately in photographs. As an example, the small mirrored sections of To slice n.02 photograph as black. However, the images, right, have all been recorded by adding two daylight spots to my repertoire of tripod-mounted camera, successfully ‘upping my game’ I think. They deliver a fairly accurate white balance so that less / no adjustment to exposure is required in Photoshop, capturing far more detailed information that even portrays distinctions between the different print methods. Worth the extra hassle I conclude.
Reference:
(1) Eivind Buene, ‘Delirious Brahms Investigations in the Music Chamber’ in ‘The Journal for Artistic Research’ (http://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/23627/23628, 2nd January 2014)
