[Review] Age of Collage vol.2

A cultivated visual celebration of tactile illustration, The Age of College vol.2 published by Gestalen, showcases just how frenzied and experimental the results of appropriation, repurposing, and recycling imagery can be.

Serving as a diverse and prolific glimpse into one of contemporary arts most enduring and often challenging mediums, The Age of Collage vol.2 unveils just how far collage has developed over the last 100 years.

Image: Lola Dupré 

Artists from around the world have been themselves woven together to create a stunning collection of diverse styles, that are both relevant and immersive. Proving a test ground for experimentation with no set limits or boundaries for artists and illustrators alike, but equally as a stylish and valid approach to design, frequently used in lifestyle magazines and ad campaigns.

Image: Martha Rosler

The seventy plus artists featured within the book have each crafted a unique and clearly stylised approach to collage; pushing the limits of the medium as far as they can.

Beomisk Won seamlessly invents and imagines new architecture by abstracting existing iconic buildings; Asher Carlsen deconstructs the human body, blending and contorting it into new often disturbing shapes and forms and Mathew Craven’s playful exploration of history, curating false gatherings of objects from the past is one of fascination.

Collage is everywhere if you just stop and look for it…at its core, collage is really about challenging convention and reinventing reality by just letting go of expectations.

Charles Wilkin

Image: Martha Rosler

With a definite nod to early protagonists of collage – the dadaists – a highlight is ‘On Collage – A reflection of cut up References’ ; a literary mashup of quotes by renowned artists who have used collage within their practice. Reading as an almost critical dissemination about the hidden meaning of collage, it’s something of gem within a publication almost entirely devoted to imagery.

This is a carefully collected contemporary patchwork of collage at its best today; so if you’re craving a detailed history of the medium itself – its origins with the futurists, the cubists, the surrealists – you’ll find reference to them is a little sparse.

It is a book that provocatively gestures towards the direction collage might travel, at the hands of the next generation of artists and designers.

Image: Lola Dupré 

The Age of Collage vol.2 is published by Gestalten RRP £40, available to buy from most good book shops.

gestalten.de

 

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Posted on May 12th, 16 by | Twitter: @lisahassell

Founder & director of Inkygoodness, Lisa is a published writer and arts journalist, focusing on creative business, graphic art and illustration and design education. Her words regularly appear in Computer Arts, Creative Bloq, Digital Arts and IdN.

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