Paper Cuts: Large-Scale Collage runs from June 16 through August 26, 2018.
Opening Celebration: Friday, June 22, 7-10pm
Collage is one of the most accessible artistic mediums. Requiring nothing more than paper and glue, it is easily achievable by people of all ages and skill levels. Often relying on found imagery, collage circumvents the need to generate new content and is a refreshingly non-intimidating form of self-expression. However, its seeming simplicity belies an influential, potent, and rebellious underbelly.
The method and the word, collage, first became popular through the work of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. Happy to upset the status quo, they began pasting paper from various sources onto their paintings. This seemingly small act marks what we now recognize as a pivotal moment in art history. It upset hundreds of years of Western painting tradition and influenced the shape of subsequent movements, such as Dada and Surrealism.
The artists in this exhibition are also breaking with tradition, rebuffing the commonly intimate scale of contemporary collage. The large scale of their work beautifully illustrates the power of the medium. The energizing, bold collages of Rina Banerjee, Manuel Ocampo, and Travis Somerville read as brave declarations. The kaleidoscopic work of Sanaz Mazinani mirrors the inescapable collage of digital media permeating our daily lives. Ben Venom’s iconographic quilts are a sassy blend of collage and punk rock. Ray Beldner and Ann Weber’s creatural forms literally bend the medium by bringing it into three dimensions. The delicacy and seamless detail of Lisa McCutcheon, Catie O’Leary, and Kirsten Stolle reflects their use of paper as a tool for mark making, becoming as much drawing as collage. And Efren Alvarez and Mary Anne Kluth both succeed in tickling the mind with their edible, pulsing colors palettes and playful materials.
The accessibility of collage, coupled with the rebellious spirit of these artists, make this exhibition an exceptional opportunity for you to see art, be inspired, and hopefully remember to indulge your own inner maker.