This assignment required me to make a collage everyday. I was to choose a theme, and 2 rules to which all the collages should adhere.
When 6 collages were requested of me, and I realized I had less than 12 hours (8 of which were spent sleeping) to brainstorm about what the theme and rules would be before I had to start actually making the collages, I challenged myself to keep it simple. After playing ideas like intimacy, relationships and queerness as themes, I decided to have all my collages chronicle my experiences throughout the days. For rules, I restricted myself to a monochromatic color scheme for each separate collage (not counting white, black and gray as colors) and I challenged myself to use both digital and analog process to create my collages.
Day 1 : 02.28
My first collage is constructed entirely in photoshop. I added an image (which I edited) of some work by Camille Claudel, who we had studied in Space class today, a drawing I did which I scanned into photoshop, a photo I had taken of emulsion being stirred, and a graphic I had created in illustrator last semester. I printed my file onto transparent paper, and made a cyanotype of the digital collage.
Day 2: 03.01
The base of this collage is newspaper with Arabic writing. I screen printed images I took and edited today onto the newspaper, and then stuck left over scrap from watercolor paper onto the empty space using ink. I illustrated some of my experiences of my night on the watercolor paper scraps, and used gray marker to add some aesthetic interest.
Day 3: 03.03
Today I was home with a cold. I stayed in my room most of the day so I only used things in my room to make this collage. I also watched Carol today, so in the background I drew some dialogue, some visuals from the movie (like Carol’s hair), as well as some visual representations of sound. I did this as I watched. I chose red as the main color because Carol always wears red. After writing this I realized that I, admittedly, forgot to use a digital method of making during this collage (y i k e s).
03.03 collage
Day 4:
I cleaned my room today, so this collage is very orderly and sparse, as if everything was put away. I used a piece of gridded paper from my planner, a piece of paper from a university prospectus I received today and masking tape. I also scanned an image of some writing I did in my journal today, printed it out and added it to the collage (the image looks very different from the scan because my printer is VERY low on ink). I added touches of green gouache, because I had hint of lime Tostito’s today.
Day 5:
For this collage, I started by drawing part of a face using white ink on black paper. Next, I edited two screenshots of old text conversations I revisited today, and traced the shapes I produced, one over the other, on tracing paper. I then cut up the tracings and pasted the clippings. I also compiled an image of different orange mushrooms in photoshop, however, it wouldn’t print in color so I painted them with gouache. Lastly, I decided to add smoke from a drawing I had done previously and add it to the collage. I soaked rubbed baby oil over it so that it wouldn’t look so harsh.
Day 6: 03.05
Today, my collage included a traced graphic derived from a google maps trip from W 14th St to the Compleat Sculptor on Vandam. I took a screenshot of the trip on my computer, and the image glitched as soon as I loaded it into Photoshop. I traced the glitch directly from the computer screen with tracing paper. I also painted a chain with gouache, added the nutrition facts of a ramen packet and six pieces of wire. I then covered everything in clear tape, on top of which, I adhered two eyes drawn on and cut out of masking tape.
As I was making the collages I was very aware of my gravitation towards more gridded layouts. I thought it interesting that this suddenly came to be, because in the past I’ve been comfortable creating less orderly collages. This time around, I would try to break out of the habit of using only horizontal and vertical lines and it made me uncomfortable. Another thing I noticed was that the guidelines I set for myself allowed me to explore methods of making and mostly resolved any issue of determining a concept for each piece. Because each piece had the same clear, simple and fairly open theme, I was able to focus more on how I was making my collages. Especially since one of my rules specifically challenged me to work using both digital and analog methods. I’m not equally proud of the aesthetics of all of my collages, but I’m happy with the process of every one.
Notes from Critique
⁃ 2 rules: could only use color & had to use both digital and analog processes for both
⁃Big change between day 1 & 2
⁃Bottom left collage is very calm and subdued compared to others
⁃Theme of communication?
⁃Used Adobe Capture to include journal writing
⁃Content of collages isn’t symmetrical but the layout is symmetrical
⁃Conversation bubbles seem private & intrusive to look at
⁃It looks like there is a language that the artist knows but the viewer doesn’t
⁃Day tags & the mounting of collages are unnecessary
