Collage.

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     I used to hate it.  with a vengeance,

     

     cutting and pasting bits and pieces from old newspapers and magazines? isn't that what nursery teachers get their kids to do to keep them quiet.

no serious artist would ever stoop to such pedestrian depths.

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     then, when i did my second art degree at putney school of art and design (i can recommend it) one of the first thing on the second term agenda was....

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     that's when i realised that good collage involves a lot more than cutting and pasting. It's about choosing images, distressing and manipulating them out of recognition. Blurring boundaries. challenging preconceptions.

 

     the origins of collage can be traced back hundreds of years, but the technique made a dramatic reappearance in the early 20th century .

     Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso  both embraced the technique - as did matisse and, latterly, richard hamilton, andy Warhol and jean-michel basquiat.

 

     who am i to argue?

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