If I was going to pick one branch of the fine arts to blunder around in, it would have to be collage. Collage artists just look like they have far more fun than the poor old tortured painters, and you get to play with knives without anyone hovering nervously in the background with restraints and a syringe at the ready. There is a bit of the mad scientist about collage though, as demonstrated by the weird and wonderful creations brought together for The Age of Collage, an exhibition of 31 artists’ work at Berlin’s Gestalten Space, the Mitte design store cum gallery opened a few years back by the eponymous book publisher.
Through the eyes of these artists we are reminded that beauty is only skin deep; Frenchman Mathieu Bourel shows us in anatomical fashion what he sees beneath the surface of Sophia Loren in Princess/Headcut, while Swiss artist Beni Bischof induces chuckles and winces in equal measure with his creepy sausage interventions on glossy model shots. Abstract, textural, social commentary and everything besides is covered, and with advancing technology constantly influencing both collage production techniques and source material, this exhibition is a great chance to catch up with the leaders of the field. The show finishes on 5 January.
Courtesy of Gestalten.
Photograph, Yves Sucksdorff
© Mathieu Bourel,
Princess / Headcut, 2012,
collage on paper,
15 x 19 cm,
Courtesy of Gestalten
Courtesy of Gestalten.
Photograph, Yves Sucksdorff
Courtesy of Gestalten.
Photograph, Yves Sucksdorff
© Leigh Wells,
Remains (120317), 2012,
35.6 x 27.3 cm,
Courtesy of Gestalten
© Jordan Clark,
Mindless Movement, 2013,
hand-cut collage on found image,
23 x 32 cm,
Courtesy of Gestalten
Courtesy of Gestalten.
Photograph, Yves Sucksdorff
© Nils Karsten,
Rock ‘n Roll, 2011,
graphite & collage on paper,
76.2 x 56.5 cm,
Courtesy of Gestalten
Courtesy of Gestalten.
Photograph, Yves Sucksdorff
