Exercise 3.4
I began by revisiting my earlier work in collage, looking at the different techniques I had incorporated. I then spent some time looking through artist that incorporate collage in their work.
The first artist that caught my attention was Nariel Walla. What drew me to his work was his technique of using painted paper to create his pieces. Using a simple colour palette to create abstract images, for example the piece below called Woman Drinking Tea in the Garden of Eden. He uses a sewing pattern for his base paper. Which is a technique I would like to use at some point during this exercise. I also like the limited colour palette he uses in his work, limiting the colours to create interesting intricate shapes.
https://www.artstrategics.com/artists/hormazd-narielwalla/
The next artist that came to mind when thinking about collage artists was Henri Matisse. Although I never used be fond of Matisse's work. As I have been on my degree journey I am starting to appreciate his work. His use of primary colours and simple forms in his work, yet being able to portray a emotion with in the picture.
https://designobserver.com/feature/henri-matisse-the-lost-interview/38738/
My first task was to chose a messy pile to work from, this was difficult as there were so many to chose from. After taking a couple of pictures I finally settled on the this image.
Simplified Collage
I broke collage down into sections, working on the background first making a selection of papers to recreate the background. And then moving on throughout the image, working out what shapes I needed to cut out to make the pieces fit together. This reminded me of a jigsaw puzzle. The first mistake I made with this collage was making the paper as I went instead of making a full piece of A4 coloured paper. The problems I encountered with this was not mixing enough paint, resulting in there not being enough paper to collage with.
I think the coverage of paint could have been better on reflection as well. I felt like I created good shapes to represent the shapes of the items in the collage. Although the proportions are off slightly I feel the picture was a good representation of the messy corner. With the colours accurate and easy to visually connect to the physical item.
The first thing I did for this collage was to use one of the colour apps from our research task. I wanted to see what unusual colour combinations could be created on the app. And to use these colours as a base point for my paper library.
Now I had an idea on a colour palette, I began creating paper. I had learnt from my previous collage that I needed to to paint the coloured pages in advance, so that is what I did!
I then reduced down my selection down to six. I then began to create a similar collage to the one to my previous, yet making it slightly more simplified. I do love this piece, what I love is the bright colours that pop from the page. Yet abstract in colour you can still see what the image is.
After I reflected on the collage and reread the brief and decided I had not taken my collage far enough. I then made the decision to redo the collage, using the same coloured papers but reducing into an even more simplified form. The collage reminded me of Matisse's work, the bright colours and simple forms. With my collage using cubic shapes to represent the messy pile. Although it has an abstract look to the collage you can still see what the piece represents. I am pleased I revisited the collage and its surprising how different you can make the image from the same paper and same image.
Complex Colour Combination Collage
For my next collage, I went back to the yarn wrapping technique. Observing the photo and picking out colours from the image. Creating my own coloured paper again, then cutting strips of paper. Cutting larger stripes for colours that take up more of the picture. I love the simplicity of this collage, yet the colours and the mix of colours and lines, represent the colourful messy pile.
Monochrome Collage
I was pleasantly surprised of how much black and white paper I had. Looking for patterned paper as well a textured paper which could be used to create the collage. Mixing the flatter painted papers with the textured and patterned papers to create a visually interesting piece. I used the textured wallpaper for the textured wallpaper to capture the textured items in the pile of mess.
I found the text from a book and a newspaper interesting to work with as you can change the aesthetic to the paper as the words create a pattern. What I found interesting and surprised me was how a monochrome collage can still include so much detail, you can still depict the items and it still incapsulates the messy corner despite the uniform black and white.
After using Adobe Color to play around with the colour tone. I finally settled on the green tone, green is a calming colour and among all the chaos and mess. Green had also been a key colour from my previous collage images with the mop being green.
I felt like the green papers portrayed that calmness I was hoping to achieve. Again using a mixture of painted paper and paper I had, using a collection of different green shades. Creating a colour palette before I started with chips. Mixing green patterned paper into the collection made the collage less flat and gave the collage more depth. I am pleased with the overall effect, the green tones work coherently together.
Multicoloured Collage
For my final collage I wanted to come out of my comfort zone. I had come across Hannah Hoch whilst researching collage artists. There was one piece that stood out to me. The piece below, I like the unusual colour palette, the natural tones with the pop of colour and then with words pocking out from behind the shapes. Although your eyes are drawn to the them they are not the main feature of the image. In fact I don't think anything was the main feature of the image it all sat in harmony together.
I wanted to work on a similar palette using earthy tones with a subtle pops of vivid colour. Reviewing the vivid colour on the collage I felt like I had used too much colour and should of used smaller amounts paper or toned down the colour I used. The papers I used were all papers I had used in the previous collage work, apart from the blue instead painting a new sheet I found some blue card and I had a few scraps left which I felt would work but are perhaps to bright for the colour palette.
I wanted to include the words as Hannah Hoch has. I went through a magazine and picked out some word I felt would represent the collage. I then placed them in areas I felt where they would blend in and not be the main feature of the collage. I also wanted to include some of writing from the articles in my piece as I had found it aesthetically pleasing in the previous collage, using the direction of the wording like a striped print. I also observed that Hannah Hoch had included an old stamp, I thought that this would work well in my piece. They remind me of a pile of letters I keep stashed in the kitchen, although to everyone else they would be rubbish but to me they are important. Like this pile of mess, although its a mess its stuff that has some importance or I would not have kept it.
In the blocked areas of the print I chose to break them down into smaller colour blocks. I feel the overall piece was successful, and although it is not traditional multicoloured, I feel I have confidently pushed my own boundaries by using more muted tones, and being more controlled with my colour palette. I enjoyed finding key words to include that linked to the subject.
I have found this exercise interesting, the part I enjoyed the most was creating interesting colour palettes and how I interpreted the brief. One thing I have learnt about myself and something I need to develop is to work tidier and in a more accurate manner. There were parts to the collage where the paper had not been stuck down correctly or there was glue visible on some of the paper. This is an area I need to focus more on and work in a cleaner more accurate way.
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