Traditional collages consist of cutting apart and stitching back together, with both the removal of the original context and the physical scar of the new join colouring the new piece. What would happen, though, if the stitcher was more a Beverley Hills plastic surgeon than a Dr Frankenstein, applying smoothing grafts to the joins, obscuring the procedure to present a more seamless version of the, albeit still altered, new reality. Creating not a monster made to shock, but a replicant designed to seduce?
Heidi Yardley‘s series Unfamiliar introduces that third technique on top of the usual cut and stitch. The works are charcoal drawings of her own collages, and by adding the artist’s visual interpretation and filters in studying her subject, and then her creative expression in reproducing them, a whole new effect is achieved. Her collage elements are harvested from books on flower arranging, antiquarian sculpture and 1960s pop culture, and use exclusively female figures. The good folk at blackartprojects are presenting Unfamiliar at Sydney gallery Chalk Horse from 12 June to 22 June.
Chameleon (2014)
charcoal and gesso on paper
76 x 56 cm
Transfigured (2014)
charcoal and gesso on paper
76 x 56 cm
Fondling (2014)
charcoal and gesso on paper
76 x 56 cm
Morphology (2014)
charcoal and gesso on paper
76 x 56 cm
