Over a week now since the final Contemporary Collage class at City Lit and the subject was text, word and image , looking at typographical arrangements of words; cutting, deleting and reorganising; changing meaning through cut and paste and juxtaposition
As usual we were shown a dizzying number of artists who have used text in different ways ( some examples below)
Bob and Roberta Smith ( at Folkestone Triennial)
Grayson Perry
' Bank' with faux artists statements
Jeremy Deller with mind maps
Christopher Wool ( large stencilled letters)
Simon Evans ( Post Its)
Ed Ruscha
Cerith Wyn Evans ( the chandelier flashes Morse Code messages)
In preparation we were asked to bring in a range of text and fonts that we could cut up to create new images and meanings.
For the excellent paper lamination course with Sarah Welsby at Art Van Go several years ago , I started cutting out headlines in different fonts and colours ( unfinished sample above) . So I already had a stash of these to compose a quick 'poem' ( of sorts) on section of gessoed newspaper collage ( of which I also have a stash after Contemporary Painting Studio )! I then did a tracing of the lettering ( below)
More bizarrely, I also found a collection of the word 'Slough' cut from local newspapers in 2011. In the early planning of my piece based on the 'Taplow Vase' for Thames Valley Contemporary Textiles exhibition in Slough Museum , I had ideas about using paper lamination before using 'secret books' of cotton organza. All words used up now!
Mostly though I had great fun with yet another find from the Fleur Bookshop in Faversham - in this case a 'News of the World' Almanac from 1953 stuffed full of hints on street parties ( including graphic illustrations of how to bone a chicken) and routes of the procession for the Coronation. Best of all were the adverts ( Simon copied and enlarged several pages for me) .
My favourite ( above and at the top) combined an advert for cold remedies with an illustration from the Guardian from 2011 on 'Wiki Leaks', including redactions. Just goes to show , shouldn't throw anything out!
At the end of the day we completed evaluation forms and learning agreements and had a quick look at each others (hugely diverse) work.
I don't know yet how much of what we covered I will take forward and incorporate in my artistic practice but overall I had a terrific, exciting, time with a generous charismatic teacher, exploring possibilities, being introduced to the work of over a hundred contemporary artists and encouraged to experiment without the pressure of producing a 'great work of art' . A 5 star course.
