Collage is an art form in which various elements such as photographs, magazines, fabrics, paper, paints and other materials are glued onto one surface to create a new image. Collage allows the artist to express his creative idea by combining unexpected and contrasting objects into a cohesive piece. 🎨

Magic of Materials: Mastering Collage Techniques in Art

Collage as a method of fine art is the connection or gluing of dissimilar elements on a single basis. Moreover, the elements differ in origin and materials, colors and textures, artistic style and content, as well as other characteristics. The collage technique provides scope for the creative imagination of artists and does not limit them in the choice of materials: canvas, paper, paint, metal or plastic fragments are used. The collage consists of elements of heterogeneous realities and nature, but it forms in the viewer the ability to perceive the work holistically.

Collage in contemporary art

 

In postmodern and contemporary art, abstract collages are created from garbage, scraps of magazines, newspapers, boxes, notes, and documents. Nowadays, it is permissible to modify collage fragments with other visual materials and tools: ink, acrylic, gouache, watercolor, gel pens, felt-tip pens, markers. One of the tasks of the collage technique is to give the work emotional richness and poignancy.

The term “collage” is also used to refer to the technique of creating a complete image from a number of other images or their individual fragments, usually using computer programs. The basis of creating a digital collage is “working with layers.” Various types of overlay, blending, and transparency can be used during the collage creation process. Despite the fact that in most cases the term “photomontage” would be more appropriate, the boundaries of these two concepts when manipulating images using computer programs are practically erased.

Collage in cubism

 

At the beginning of the twentieth century, representatives of collage were two pioneers of cubism - Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. To begin with, they developed Analytical Cubism, reflecting Picasso's artistic philosophy that the head simply consisted of two eyes, a nose, and a mouth, which could be arranged in any way the artist desired. The analytical paintings of the Cubists became more and more fragmented over time, and their content became more and more abstract. Then, around 1912, Picasso and Braque developed a new form of painting known as synthetic cubism - a method that first used words and then "real" elements such as newspaper clippings, tickets, scraps of wallpaper and labels to represent themselves. myself. Another method used papier-collet, or sticky paper, which Braque used in his collage Fruit Plate and Glass (1913).

These forms of cubist collage coincided with early three-dimensional compositions using "found objects", such as the controversial "ready-made" works of Dada artist Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968).

Collage in Dada style

 

The Dada movement began in Zurich, Switzerland, during World War I, as an artistic rebellion against the accepted values that caused such horror. After the war, Dada developed into surrealism in Paris and Cologne. Collage was a special technique of this anti-art movement. German Dada artist Kurt Schwitters' small "Merzbilder" collages were carefully created from street trash to reflect a world gone mad. Max Ernst, another German Dada and surrealist artist, also created a number of collage images and incorporated frottage (broken patterns) into his fantasy art. Wolf Vostell invented décolletés, which are the opposite of constructed collages using fragments of posters and other "found" materials. Other famous artists who used collage included Jean Arp, Marcel Duchamp, Picabia and the American abstract expressionist Robert Motherwell.

Contemporary fine art, collage (mixed media)

 

Since then, collage has been used by many other artists, such as the Dutch abstract painter Piet Mondrian, the British artist John Walker and the American Jane Frank (known for her collages on canvas). Lee Krasner (1908-84), wife of Jackson Pollock, the inventor of "action painting", also created collages assembled from fragments of her own discarded paintings. Neo-Dada artists, including Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg, also developed modern forms of collage and other mixed media works.

In the late twentieth century, the concept of collage expanded well beyond the fine arts to include musical and architectural compositions, as well as photographic collage (photomontage), assemblage, and crafts such as decoupage. Additionally, the widespread use of the term "mixed media" in modern art has actually supplanted the word "collage" in fine art, as it involves gluing together objects onto a canvas. One of the most talented contemporary collage artists was New Yorker David Wojnarowicz (1954-92), whose work has been exhibited in some of America's finest contemporary art galleries.

Collage Masterclass: Transition from Connecting Elements to Creating Harmony and Beauty in Drawing and Painting

 

Now that we have plunged into the history and diversity of collage, it is time to move on to the topic that excites every creative spirit: “How to create beautiful works, the rules and laws of composition in drawing and painting.” Let's talk about how these principles can be integrated into the world of collage, and how to use them to give your work harmony and emotional richness. Get ready for an exciting immersion in the art of contemporary composition, where creativity meets strict rules, and the result is a magnificent expression of your inner universe on canvas.

What is composition in drawing and painting?

First, let's talk about what composition is from an artist's point of view?

In a nutshell, these are the laws and principles of placement and interaction of any objects, people, spots, colors, lines in the visible field of a painting, as well as their arrangement relative to the format of a two-dimensional medium or three-dimensional space (since a painting can also be three-dimensional) .

A more simplified definition can be given

Composition is a set of elements of a picture that interact with each other and have a center

In other words, composition is the harmony or relationship of everything that can be depicted by the artist with the format of the medium.

Important! It is impossible to talk about composition without talking about the emotions that the artist wants to convey in his work. The laws and principles of composition are always subordinated to the concept of the work and the emotional message that the artist wants to convey. Any beautiful composition and harmony is not an end in itself. First of all, it is a tool. A correctly created composition will strengthen and emphasize the idea, and an incorrect one will completely blur it.

The choice of work format depends very much on the original intention

A very important thing to understand composition is the format. The format must be chosen in accordance with the design. Since the choice of format directly affects the emotional message:

1. Square format. These are, first of all, emotions of staticity and stability. Feeling of calm and warmth. Little movement, little emotion.

 

2. Horizontally elongated format. Dynamics of movement on a horizontal plane. The movement goes either from left to right, or vice versa, depending on the design.

 

3. Vertically elongated. A clear movement either up or down. Powerful dynamics and emotionality. In my work I really like to use the vertical format, which in my opinion gives maximum dynamics to the work. In the example, my work in which the vertical format emphasizes the movement up the road, towards the sun. We walk as if with our eyes from bottom to top. We feel emotions literally through our skin. This is the impact of the right format.

So, the format greatly influences the composition and the overall emotional perception of the painting.

In the next part of our study, we will dive deeper into the world of compositional techniques in painting and drawing, and find out how they can be successfully adapted to the collage technique. Let's look at key aspects such as balance, equilibrium, proportion and rhythm, and look at how these elements interact to create visual harmony in a work of art.

From the principles of the golden ratio and radial composition to playing with shapes and the direction of the viewer's gaze, we'll cover how to use these techniques to improve your collage skills. Immersion in the theory and practice of compositional techniques will open new horizons for your creativity and give your works not only beauty, but also depth of perception.

We'll look at specific examples and practical tips on how to apply these techniques in the context of collage, where each piece of material has its own role in creating visual interaction. Prepare for an exciting journey into the world of composition, where creativity meets science, and where every element on your canvas plays a key role in creating a piece of art that captures the eye and inspires admiration.