studio journal: Some new collage

Only barely settling in to the new semester. Its taken a while to get started with my own work. I have been producing some starting points for a series of A2 folded books following on from the last semester; more on these later.

For now I have been building a series of small collages from some old ephemera that I have acquired by various means. Whilst still focussing very clearly on the balance and juxtaposition of elements in these works (a key interest) I am seeking to investigate the qualities that 'old' ephemera brings to the medium of collage. For me, the aged quality of the media brings both a sense of 'feel' (ie the handling qualities of the materials) for the building of the subsequent image, and affects the aesthetic appearance for the viewer. Additionally, does the inclusion of an image suggest any narrative to the viewer? These images here are not chosen as such, only for their visual and perhaps 'period' quality. It is said that we are all 'children of our own time'. Perhaps this affects the reading of certain visual images. I have a particular interest in imagery of the 50's, however, the limited imagery in this collection of collages suggests maybe, 'time travelled', but much of it is from a period before 'my time'.

I made these collages with a few rules: no more than say, five elements per collage, the inclusion of an image, some aged ephemera and a postage stamp. (A bag of old stamps - which I assume have no individual value!- was given to me by a friend and some of these were interesting 'aged' images mixed with, in some cases, a bold 'franking' mark).

Engine