Cutting Edges – Contemporary Collage
I’ve always been fascinated by collage as a medium. My favourite ‘toy’ when I was a kid was Fuzzy Felt which I guess is a form of collage, a very intuitive and fantasy based game. I suppose it made sense then that I got totally immersed in the fantasy and surrealistic world of Max Ernst and Hannah Hoch whilst studying in college, the mixed media collage work of Dave McKean is very important to me and lately I’m loving the work of Irish collage artist Una Gildea, especially her Tales of Seduction (pictured) and Zodiac series).
As a medium its always struck me as a very immediate way of conveying an idea or emotion and its very exciting to see there is a great exhibition in West Cork Arts Centre that illustrates the range and depth of collage is still very much a contemporary medium.
‘Cutters/Cork’ and is the Irish leg of a touring international show curated by American artist James Gallagher and acts as a showcase for this exhilarating art form. The show is accompanied by Cutting Edges – Contemporary Collage just published in January by Gestalten and which is edited by Gallagher. We will be reviewing it soon. In the meantime here is another great video from Gestalten on James Gallagher and this project:
