Tuesday 24 January 2012

Collage Art - John Stezaker





I have recently been working will collage. I thought I would look at the work of John Stezaker as he is one of the more famous artists working with collage.

Stezakers work is not complex, he often only collages two images, but they have a big impact. They have been so carefully selected due to the fact that they are compositionally perfect together. Stezaker himself says that he's at an advantage when doing work as he is always finding images. There's always something to do. (See here for an interview with him; http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/triennial/video.shtm) I think that is the great thing about collage. Nothing has to be tidy or finished, the work is always ongoing and I think I could learn from him in that, by working constantly, the art continues and develops.

He also says that we all create our own audience to the work, which is someone like ourselves. I can see what he means, as we often get reactions to our work that we don't understand. We wonder why others didn't see our work in the same way we would have seen it. I think looking at the way people see our work is important and I would like to try and gain some feedback on my work in the future to see how others interpret it.

2 comments:

  1. I find collages very intriguing. I am always left wondering why artists select the pieces they do... What was it about the pieces that spoke to them? I find that I can better express myself with collages, than with any other medium (besides photography, of course).

    I would be very interesting in looking at your work and giving you my interpretation :)

    PS- *Pair IV* is one of my favourite pieces by Stezaker. I see a couple who wish to appear in love to the external world, but really there is great emotional distance between them.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, I agree, it is hard to know why artists choose the pieces they do, for composition or something more. Stezaker freely admits he waits for the right pieces to come and has piles of found papers. It's obvious that his pieces are done that way for a good aesthetic, but many seem to tell a story as well.

      I will be posting some of my own collages in a couple of days and would love to hear your interpretations.

      Laura x

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