Here is the newest batch of some finally-finished and some new collages.  Older and newer ones ended up being shaped by a confluence of a number of different streams of thought to finish this group.  Now I have another group of unfinished collages.  I guess that's the way it always works.

I was enjoying creating the 3-D collages with the layer shadows and still want to pursue 3-D printing and other means to produce sculptural pieces.  I'm frustrated, in fact, that I can't fabricate sculptural ideas as easily and find it ironic that making collage digitally has created this strong desire to make assemblage.

Lately I'm missing the simplicity of flat glued paper collage and printmaking and am making digital versions.

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October 15, 2015 

Here are some collages I’ve done since returning from China.  I’m still liking the 3-D effect and wishing I had the time and means to create 3-D relief collages using a laser cutter and a material like dibond or something.

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Empire

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Hercules

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Enigma

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Collage in China

September 31, 2015

Again, it’s been a long time since I’ve posted but a lot has happened.

In May, I was invited to teach a class on Collage and Digital Bricolage at the Hubei Institute of Fine Arts in Wuhan, China.  I had been to Wuhan in February for one week to work on a design project for the Wuhan Metro system with the HIFA Cultural Corporation that is a design corporation affiliated with the school.  This time I spent the entire month of May in Wuhan with my fiancé Jaala and Xiao Han, a graduate student from Wuhan in our MFA program here.  Xiao acted as my interpreter, helped organize things with the school and was a godsend in helping to ensure a successful project so can’t thank her enough.

I also have to thank Zhang Guanghui, the Dean of Printmaking and a revered Chinese artist, who is a really cool guy, a great artist and a very gracious host and Xu Yongmin, the President of HIFA and a well-known artist.  Also Xu Fan, a printmaker who is the Vice-President of the Institute as well as Zhang Lian, a printmaking professor who I became friends with while there.  These people are all very fine artists and printmakers.   

The course, which was the first time I’ve taught it, couldn’t have gone better.  The students were keen and produced a lot of great work in a short amount of time.  I gave a public lecture called Miscellany: The Effect of Collage on Contemporary Art and it was met with great enthusiasm by the whole school so I found an appreciative and receptive audience.  Students began by making handmade collage from found elements, then made prints from the scanned collages, then made digital collage and prints and some made handmade collage from printed digital collage.  As you see here, the students caught on to the idea of collage very naturally and produced really strong work in a short amount of time.  Some students indicated that collage had changed everything for them.  A final comment by Yi Lin-Jia said it all:  “the whole world is a collage!”

Chen Hao
digital collage

Deng Di
handmade collage

Deng Di
handmade collage

Deng Yi
digital collage

Gao Minglu
handmade collage

Gao Minglu
digital collage

Hu Xaioyu
digital collage

Lin Chengqui
digital collage

Lin Jia Yi
digital collage

Lin Jia Yi
handmade collage

Wang Yan
digital collage

Wang Zhen
digital collage

Xu Bin
digital collage

Xu Bin
handmade collage

Xu Long
digital collage

Xu Long
digital collage

Yang Xiongjun
digital collage

Zhang Bao Yao
digital collage

Zhang Ke (Coco)
digital collage

Zhou Chu
digital collage

Unfortunately, I don’t have images of all of the work the students made so can’t show them all but here are most of them.