The collage workshop was a positive and constructive experience for me. I walked into the workshop without an idea in mind of what I wanted to create, or what my final DIY project might be. Flipping through magazines and newspapers, however, drew me to certain images and helped me to develop an idea for a socio-political critique I’m planning to develop as the subject of my final collage project.
As many people have already mentioned, working with collage definitely granted me an appreciation for Ernst’s seamless and efficient collaging skills. Simply choosing and cutting out images took me almost all of the class period. It’s incredibly impressive that Ernst finished his brilliant collage novel in only a few weeks. I’m especially impressed by his ability to render such profound psychological commentary and meaning in addition to creating a cohesive narrative and physically seamless collage.
I also personally enjoyed working with magazines, newspaper, etc. for collaging more than working with digital media, because I’m interested in the idea of deconstructing something pre-existing in order to construct something new. I think it would be interesting to play with this concept more in a digital form, but it’s something I didn’t get to during our second workshop day.
Your comment about how time consuming it was to choose and cut out the pieces stuck out to me. Collage is interesting in that you have to find the puzzle pieces that you’re going to use — you don’t have them in front of you from the start, ready to be put together.
Taking something apart to create something new also really appeals to me, and can speak volumes for the art’s message, especially if it’s a socio-political critique like you’re planning. Essentially, this process of deconstructing and constructing challenges preconceived notions or boundaries. It’s exciting!