p s y c h e rotica

How to approach the mystery of art? Except to follow where it leads…

Collage is a process that relies on serendipity and intuition. Its expression arises from the images that happen to be on hand; the artist is drawn by the peculiar magnetism of visual and symbolic affinity. Yet precisely because so much of the process is unpredictable, because we cannot know beforehand which picture will adopt which other, or where the constellation of images will finally settle, it circumvents the limiting influence of our own preconceptions. It is this paradoxical freedom from intention which allows an uncontrived magic to occur.

Collage is a supremely simple process. Paper, scissors and glue; one color, object, or shape invites the next. Each juxtaposition suggests another, until we are riding a wave of spontaneous association. Multiple meanings and interrelationships arise. The sublime meshes with the ridiculous, thereby transcending both. Unexpected alliances form, only to be further bent by a neighboring confluence. Harmony emerges from the chaos of random elements, simply by following the dictates of free-flowing attention. As the great paste-up artist, Jess, has noted, we wait “for the piece itself to tell [us] where it belongs.” Nothing need be calculated as these synergies unfold; it is enough to follow the pleasure of the eye, to note the fleeting responses of the heart.

This ability to harness the unexpected and nonsensical makes collage a potent psychological ally. Impromptu metaphors take flight; inner landscapes can be coaxed into the light of day. As discarded images are rescued and rehabilitated from the dustbin of popular culture, our subconscious gets a welcome airing out. Also, because each collage is a sort of clandestine collaboration with the makers of the original component images, the work escapes the confines of a singular perspective. Consensus reality gets rearranged, not so much by exercising control but through an artful practice of letting go.

Even the finished collage is never entirely static. The images remain in flux as the unbound eye travels through the piece. Because of this, the viewer can “read” a collage in different ways and many times over and always uncover some new relationship or allegory or visual pun. In this way, via perceptive experience, the viewer continues the process which began in the artist.

	on a r t
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	How to approach the mystery of art? Except to follow where it leads… Collage is a process that relies on serendipity and intuition. Its expression arises from the images that happen to be on hand; the artist is drawn by the peculiar magnetism of visual and symbolic affinity. Yet precisely because so much of the process is unpredictable, because we cannot know beforehand which picture will adopt which other, or where the constellation of images will finally settle, it circumvents the limiting influence of our own preconceptions. It is this paradoxical freedom from intention which allows an uncontrived magic to occur. Collage is a supremely simple process. Paper, scissors and glue; one color, object, or shape invites the next. Each juxtaposition suggests another, until we are riding a wave of spontaneous association. Multiple meanings and interrelationships arise. The sublime meshes with the ridiculous, thereby transcending both. Unexpected alliances form, only to be further bent by a neighboring confluence. Harmony emerges from the chaos of random elements, simply by following the dictates of free-flowing attention. As the great paste-up artist, Jess, has noted, we wait “for the piece itself to tell [us] where it belongs.” Nothing need be calculated as these synergies unfold; it is enough to follow the pleasure of the eye, to note the fleeting responses of the heart. This ability to harness the unexpected and nonsensical makes collage a potent psychological ally. Impromptu metaphors take flight; inner landscapes can be coaxed into the light of day. As discarded images are rescued and rehabilitated from the dustbin of popular culture, our subconscious gets a welcome airing out. Also, because each collage is a sort of clandestine collaboration with the makers of the original component images, the work escapes the confines of a singular perspective. Consensus reality gets rearranged, not so much by exercising control but through an artful practice of letting go. Even the finished collage is never entirely static. The images remain in flux as the unbound eye travels through the piece. Because of this, the viewer can “read” a collage in different ways and many times over and always uncover some new relationship or allegory or visual pun. In this way, via perceptive experience, the viewer continues the process which began in the artist.
	art first! ~ on Ruby, the maladjusted elephant \| why art? ~ aesthetics and small-town thinking
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