Collage Artists

When most people hear the word "collage", you probably immediately think of elementary school projects consisting of cut up magazines and Elmers glue. However, the art world has taken the term and turned it on its head.

Collage is an extremely broad category within the realm of visual arts. Emerging the 20th century along side of modernism, artists such as Picasso and Braque incorporated collage techniques into their paintings and drawings. It evolved from there to include various sub-categories, such as photomontage (creating a photograph out of various other photos) and assemblage (the use of found objects to create a three dimensional collage).

An artist who is well known for his use of assemblage is Robert Rauschenberg, who created pieces that consisted of found objects and paint, known as "combines".

Rebus, 1955

Bed, 1955

Said to be a self-portrait, Rauschenberg's Bed, for example is a vertically suspended bed consisting of a worn in pillow, sheets, and quilt that have been sketched and painted on. Through this process, Rauschenberg takes an everyday item and makes it unfamiliar.

Another, artist who uses collage techniques is Fred Tomaselli. Tomselli mixes painting with random materials such as various pills, magazine cut outs, and marijuana leaves.  After incorporating these two elements he then coats the painting with resin in order to preserve the found objects.

Ripple Trees, 1994

Migrant Fruit Thugs, 2006

Much of Tomaselli's work focuses around the concept of creating a psychedelic experience for those who view it, without the need to take any actual drugs. Ripple Trees was apart of Psychedelic at the Memorial Art Gallery last fall, where I was first exposed to his work.

And while I did not experience a feeling a psychedelia when viewing this piece, I still find myself extremely fascinated in his work. Perhaps its my interest in the use of non-traditional materials. Or perhaps, its the intricate detail of the works combined with a vibrant use of colors. Regardless, I find his work to be beautiful.

I have been interested in collage art in the past few years, ever since I first came across Robert Rauschenberg's work. Growing up I only thought of collage as messily pasting together magazine clippings, so when I came across the work of both Rauschenberg and Fred Tomaselli I was immediately interested. It really inspires me to know that there is so much you can do when you're creating. When I was growing up I essentially felt like I was confined to just a pencil and paper, so its really refreshing and reassuring to realize how much one can do to create art.


Image sources: moma.org, dailyserving.com, arttattler.com


(Disclaimer: I could not find a website for either artist, but I would like to point out that I do NOT own or claim to own any of the work featured on this post! They belong to each artist respectively, & I am simply using the photos for reference)