Collage shortcuts

It's time to show another making of. The work went quite easily, because I wanted to do something with this dog who originally hold a pair of slippers in his mouth, an image I like because it illustrates - in my opinion - many of my fellow citizens I hesitated when he was dressed with his red shirt - I thought he looked just gorgeous and blissfully happy. But then I felt that his joy had no object, so I gave him - like the Creator - a mate. And, of course, there is more than that in this collage, but you'll have to find it out by yourself.

Français
Il est temps de montrer une fois encore ma cuisine interne. Ce collage fut assez aisé, car je partais du chien tenant une paire de charentaises dans sa gueule. Un thème qui m'est cher car il illustre, à mon avis, la passivité et docilité de mes contemporains. Quand il eut sa chemise rouge, je me disais que je pouvais m'arrêter là, tellement il avait l'air mignon et béat. Mais je trouvais que sa joie était sans objet et je décidai- comme le Créateur - de lui adjoindre une compagne. Et, bien entendu, il y davantage que cela dans ce collage, mais je vous laisse le soin de le découvrir tout seuls.

The other day, I have made a collage

which enchanted me and at the same time estranged me. I was the fact that the girl’s face and the horse’s eye merged so perfectly, so that I saw her moving the animal’s head away from her face like a mask. The whole figure looks so natural while it is made from different bits. Reading Hal Foster’s book on Compulsive beauty, I was struck by his comment on Hans Bellmer’s dolls, which are really the extreme limit of deconstruction-reconstruction, as other works from provocative artists (at Saatchi's for ex.). The author shows that Breton never went so far, that he maintained a limit, that he couldn’t sacrifice sublimation. I must say that I understand that, even if my works are often at the limit of deconstruction, or chaos. But art in my eyes has to do with order. What I see in this collage is that I have succeeded in making it “beautiful” and nevertheless uncanny, but in a light way. So it is a resting point in my moreoften agitated production and I dedicate it to my granddaughter Julia (7) and to the moments of pure happiness during childhood, moments when one is unified and which we run desperately after when we have become adults.

French:
Etrangeté
L'autre jour, j'ai fait un collage qui m'a à la fois enchanté et surpris. Cela provenait de la fusion du visage de la fille et de l'oeil du cheval - j'ai vu le mouvement d'éloignement de la tête de l'animal, comme si la fille enlevait un masque. Toute cette figure a l'air si naturelle, bien que composée de différents fragments. Comme je suis en train de lire le livre susmentionné, sur la beauté compulsive des surréalistes, j'ai fait le lien avec ce qu'on y dit sur les poupées de Hans Bellmer, qui constituent l'extrême limite de la déconstruction-reconstruction, tout comme dans les oevres-choc de certains artistes contemporains (par ex. chez Saatchi). L'auteur écrit que Breton ne voulait jamais franchir la limite, car il pensait que l'art devait sublimer. Je dois dire que cela me parle, même si mes oeuvres sont souvent à la limite de la déconstruction, donc du chaos. Mais l'art, à von avis, met en oeuvre un certain ordre. Ce que je vois dans mon collage est que j'ai réussi à le rendre beau et en même temps dérangeant (unheimlich), mais de manière légère. C 'est donc un point de repos dans ma production souvent agitée et je le dédie à ma petite-fille Julia (7 ans) et aux moments de pur bonheur de l'enfance, quand on est unifié et que nous essayons de revivre désespérément plus tard quand nous sommes devenus adultes.

I had been quite satisfied with this state, so I sent it to a family member, asking him to comment on it. His answer was very negative. After a moment of stupor, I realized that maybe I had been to illustrative and that this collage needed some more work. You can see by yourself what came out. The result is far from the first state, but I am satisfied. The danger in artwork is always self-illusion, what I use to call « blindness », or self-satisfaction. It is indeed very difficult to judge one’s own productions, the mind is often a skilled sycophant. Time may help to struggle against this tendency. I just saw a painting from 2003 and found it very lousy. I am trying now to rescue it with collage, but the result is still not satisfying. So I shall say that the worse the artist, the more pretentious he/she is. And still, some poems from Victor Hugo are not at the height of his best inspiration. All this to remember to be aware of my own limits and of the necessicity of critical examination of my works.


Here the link to the collage