A Collage of Collages
Collage.
The word itself comes from the French root coller, which translates to “to stick things together.” The art of collage, meanwhile, does not grow apart from the original meaning, and as defined by the art institution Tate, “describes both the technique and the resulting work of art in which pieces of paper, photographs, fabric, and other ephemera are arranged and stuck down onto a supporting surface.”
The earlier practices of collage required the physical attractions of different textured materials ranging from newspapers to ribbons. Thus, the aim was to manifest the unity of the assembly of different pieces. Although the word of collage evokes the images of Renaissance sculptures that are photoshopped on pop-culture figures on everyone’s Instagram feeds, the earlier examples were first seen in the Japanese and Chinese dynasties and Medieval Europe. The modernist approaches were later featured in the works of Baroch and Picasso. Thinking about the meaning that those artists added to the glossary, “irrelevancies’ harmony,” it wouldn’t surprise the audience to see that the collages spread to the surrealist movement.
Sticking to its general meaning, merging the different mediums, it is reasonable to state that the term collage can extend beyond the limits of visual arts. The motive “medium” involves fields such as music, film, literature, and fashion; any field that possesses varying materials within is able to produce collages. Fabrics, textures, sounds, clefs, negative images, color palettes, and of course, paper and ink, the list can go up till the nutritions in your fridge.
In the twenty-first century, the so-called innovation and technology revolution, the collages adapted to the century’s necessities and took the form of digital media. With the availability of software that comes as default apps within our technological devices, the physical collages are shelved upon the hobby label--or used as artists’ proficient works. The emerging digital collages contributed to the flood of digital image marketing and uncovered the veils of photomontages.
Over the course of the collage’s history, it obviously was exposed to some serious changes. There is really no “the true collage” anyways (ahem, the quarrel of the digital vs. physical arts, ahem). In the end, what matters is always the creation of the artist and the appreciation of the observer.
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