Collage and Assemblage

Collage (From the French: coller, to glue) is a technique of an art production, primarily used in the visual arts, where the artwork is made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole.

A collage may sometimes include newspaper clippings, ribbons, bits of colored or handmade papers, portions of other artwork or texts,photographs and other found objects, glued to a piece of paper or canvas. The origins of collage can be traced back hundreds of years, but this technique made a dramatic reappearance in the early 20th century as an art form of novelty.

The term collage derives from the French "coller" meaning "glue".^[1] This term was coined by both Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso in the beginning of the 20th century when collage became a distinctive part of modern art.^[2]

When I think of collage, the artists or movement I primarily think of is the Dada movement. They used a lot of collage pieces of literature, illustration using what materials were around as this was shortly after the first war where make do and mend was the main thought.

I also think of the obvious well known artists who use forms of collage (apart from re working used materials) such as Pablo Picasso who created his own images then cut up and reworked them. Collage like this I really dont like, it just looks so dated and arts and crafts type thing that many people do. Although, from this research ive really found a new avenue for collage that Id not really looked at before thats fresh and more interesting to me.

Julien Pacaud 'The Operator'

I really love the contrast between old and new with collage, contrasting black and white with bright graphic lines and marks, contrasting dreamy lines with sharp edges.Theres something really nice about how crisp the lines are when cutting out shapes and layering them over other images. I like the surrealism element or an other worldly type landscape that seems so alien but also familiar.

Ben Giles 'Mystery Jets'

From researching work like this just now Ive realised a lot of my research from previous work has been a form of collage, because its not the obvious collage of cutting up paper and layering, it still is another type of collage. I like how Ben has involved different mediums to mix up the textures and materials, this adds another dimension and a whole new way of using collage. 

Assemblage

I did a lot of research into assemblage in my first year of college and really enjoyed it as I got to rummage around in skips and my house for materials I could rework. I think from this I really learnt how to recycle with my work and spend the least amount of money as possible! I researched artists such as Mark Dion who likes to collect and collate his work very precisely in a very scientific way. I really liked his Cabinet of Curiosities as its a different spin on assemblage compared to piecing all the parts together.