Collage shortcuts

I rewrite this commentary which has been erased.

In fact, it started with the hand full of pills. I cut it out and began looking for a matching photo. The idea was “addiction”, the promise of happiness and death. But I got stuck; I didn't find anything I liked. Only something very illustrative. And I don't want a univocal collage, a clear message like in propaganda. It’s not what I am looking for. So at last, I found the picture of the woman and then the one with the torn face. It was like in a dream when I put it against the hand: I felt that I had it done. Why? Because I followed form, not content, I gave over to my hidden artist (or my intuition) who knows better than me. How? My wife is surely right when she thinks that as a little Jewish boy in Germany, language was dangerous, so I developed a way of thinking in pictures, before elaborating words. They come afterwards, when I am looking at my collage: I understand that the nurturing of the hungry girl is an ambiguous gesture made of love and murder. André says that those pictures come from far away, even before childhood, in hidden memories I am unconscious of. The hidden artist gives me the chance to carry out this heritage which reveals itself without giving the key to a rational understanding. The enigma remains, but I can glean some apercus. This explains why I am so dissatisfied with univocal pictures. Which pill is the right one? Or should one refrain from taking any of them? Is it like Pandora’s box or the ticket to heaven?

THE MAKING OF : HEAD
This making of seems quite interesting to myself. Because it shows the deconstruction-reconstruction process of a collage. The more I am making collages , the stronger I believe that my collages deal with reconstruction. It was very tempting to deconstruct the French neo-fascist leader Le Pen, but I wasn’t so much satisfied with the result and decided to reconstruct the whole in direction of a Jewish face, which emerged without intention. The best “punishment” for this notorious racist leader is to make him disappear behind this face. Finally, reconstruction means the disappearance of the initial elements, but not of the scheme. So, yes the modification is radical, but the central idea undergoes a modification, from destruction to a constructive new meaning. And this has been done without my conscious acting: I love my hidden artist who guides my choices. The time spent on the collage: choice of the picture and first transformation into a caricature: yesterday night. The other states came very quickly in about 30 minutes of intense work.
Cette séquence me semble très intéressante à cause du processus de déconstruction-reconstruction du collage. Plus je fais du collage, plus je pense que la reconstruction y est un élément clé. Il était très tentant de déconstruire Le Pen, mais le résultat ne m’a pas satisfait de sorte que je me mis à reconstruire la face, ce qui aboutit à une tête juive – du moins c’est ce que je compris après coup – qui émergea sans ma volonté. La meilleure « punition » pour ce leader aux propos racistes répétés n’est-elle pas de le faire disparaître derrière un autre visage ? Ainsi ma transformation est radicale, mais l’idée centrale persiste tout en subissant une modification, avec un sens nouveau, positif. Et cela se passa sans ma volonté active : j’aime mon artiste caché qui guide mes choix. Le temps passé à faire ce collage : le choix de la photo, la première transformation en caricature : hier soir. Et puis, le lendemain soir, en une demi-heure de travail intense les autres étapes jusqu’à l’arrêt de l’image et l’évidence de ce qui s’était passé.








The link to the bigger picture

THE MAKING OF: COUPLE
After several trips here I am again. The making of this collage is an illustration of how my “hidden artist” is working: my wife’s anniversary is approaching and I can’t refrain from linking this collage to it. As usual, the faces are torn: the men’s is pushed toward a Jewish look and a gesture one can find in some ancient paintings of Noblemen with their spouse. I am tempted to recognize myself in the left eye of the figure: it seems witty to me, my wife speaking of me as “quicksilverish”. As to the woman, maybe I idealize her inner safety and assurance – it is contradicted by her face. Anyway, the picture looks quite happy – a sort of fusion without mutual absorption and that seems highly desirable for a couple.

For André, the French version:
Après plusieurs voyages, me voici de retour. La fabrication de ce collage illustre comme mon « artiste caché » procède. En effet, à l’approche de l’anniversaire de D., je ne peux m’empêcher de faire le lien avec ce collage. Comme d’habitude, les visages sont déformés : celui de l’homme est tiré vers un faciès juif, son geste est celui d’un seigneur avec son épouse dans certaines peintures de cour. Je suis tenté de me reconnaître dans l’œil gauche de l’homme : il me semble malicieux, D. parlant de me moi comme étant comme du vif argent. Quant à la femme, j’ai l’impression d’idéaliser sa force tranquille – mais il y a contradiction avec son visage. Mais, somme toute, l’image exprime du bonheur, une fusion sans absorption mutuelle, ce qui me semble désirable dans un couple.