Collage exploration #9

Series: Collage exploration #9

It took me days to get around to gluing this one down and, to be honest, the only reason I actually did it was to get it out of the way so I can move on to something more interesting. I wasn’t that taken by the example in the Project Collage book so, honestly, I wasn’t really approaching it with the right attitude, and it shows. But I said I would post every finished piece on the blog regardless of whether I like it or not.

And I really don’t like this. Other than meeting the brief — to create a “kaleidoscopic” collage — it has no redeeming features for me. I made it harder by sticking to the small rectangular format of these mini collages — the one in the book is done in a square layout — but even so… I built the reflected image up out of textures and shapes cut out of a supermarket magazine (Ocado, source of lots of useful collage fodder).

If I’d cared about it more I would have gone back and found some different pieces, photocopied them so they were identical, used a larger format, but no, not this time. I’m more than happy to spend time on fiddly processes if the result is going to be worth it, and I do appreciate the use of mirroring and symmetry in art, just not as the sole theme. Time to put this behind me and, lessons learned, move on to the next project.