Experimental Coasts in Mixed Media

Mike Bernard & Susie Hodge ‘Mixed media’ is one of those terms that can mean everything and nothing. It can also be used to cover both a multitude of sins and virtues – the universal get-out clause. It can be as little as adding a touch of gouache to the spume blown off a breaking wave or, as we have here, full immersion in collage and whatever comes to hand.

This is dangerous territory because technique does not make art. Pasting yesterday’s headlines against the walls of a building can all too easily become no more than a distraction. Of prime importance is to have a creative vision and a complete understanding of what you’re doing and why you’re doing it and Mike Bernard has both. He is, indeed, one of the pioneers of what we might call fully-immersive mixed media.

This guide is practical and technical, impressively thorough, completely understandable and an absorbingly good read.

Batsford £19.99, 128 pages (H/B) ISBN 9781849946612