DESI 1213 | EXPERIMENTAL STUDIO PRACTICES | 2021-202

03 Colour & Collage

Arturo Herrera, #73 DF1, 2006

Colour & Collage

Collage is a term that includes a variety of artworks, meanings and approaches, and has been used as
a vehicle within visual communication for decades - made popular by artists like Picasso and Braque. At the
most basic level, collage is a means of cutting out various materials and recombining them to create a newly
configured work. Often times the works can present a sense a wholeness, while at the same time offer the
viewer an over- whelming sense of multiple images. Other times, the work can appear uncanny, as the placing
of disparate imagesnext to each other creates strange, new readings. And yet again, collage can be used to
examine more formal concerns such as composition, colour, etc. Collage has the ability to incorporate a huge
variety of issues, and this will be our starting point for a series of new projects.
Over the next week, you will be developing a total of three works which utilize collage and colour, as
well as elements from previous work. We will give a lecture about collage artists and explain the projects on
the first day - you will want to take notes in your sketchbooks. The projects are not meant to be isolated
works, but rather a culmination of the approaches we have used throughout the course thus far. As such,
we are beginning todevelop a more complex approach to making which considers a variety of elements.
Much of the work you do over these next two weeks will need to be developed individually, and must be
presented on November 5th for a group crit.

Varitations on a Theme
In musical terms, the idea of a Variation on a Theme relates to how composers use different
combinations of instruments, while still adhering to an original score of music, to explore the multiple potentials
of a singular pieceof work. What a single violin offers, is very different than a full orchestra - even if they both
perform the same piece of music. For our project, we would like you to explore notions of Variations, and focus
on one theme from the list below:

1) Abstract Geometry - using geometries explore complex composition and patterns which grow,
move and dance across the page.
2) Reconfigured Space(s) - using observation of interior spaces, break them down into “parts” and
use these to reconfigure the space creating new dimensions

See how far you can take these themes through the use of collage. Refer to your past works from the Drawing
weeks as possible source material, and further develop a minimum of three collages which utilize:

1)Monochromatic Colour or Grayscale 2) Complementary Colours and 3) Harmonious Colours.

While your subject matter will be the same across the 3 collages, your approach/technique and your
adherence tothe three colour structures will provide a series of works which engage with the idea of Variations.
You should begin with some small sketches/samples in your sketchbook to begin to develop your ideas. Your
work should show good consideration of the formal qualities of composition, as well as technique and
complexity. You may useany material you choose, including photographs, hand painted paper, coloured
papers, acetates, fabrics, etc. You may also wish to work on top of your collages with drawing or paint to
further the work. The minimum size for your final works must be at least A3 or larger and CANNOT INCLUDE
TEXT.