Why scissors, paper, rock for artists
“Some people think it’s just gluing or something,” says Alan Rae, owner of the Fidra Fine Art Gallery in Gullane, thinking about his forthcoming collage exhibition.
“But it’s an art form that works. If you look at the pieces you will see a balance and a symmetry; if it was in your house you’d stop and look at it every day.”
Collage, in one form or another, has been an enduring art form through the centuries, particularly in pop culture where it has often been used as to satirise or protest with images juxtaposed to make a political point, whether by Cold War Steve, whose work has thousands of fans online, or anarchist punks Crass, who used the technique on their 1978 album The Feeding Of The 5000.
Among the artists Rae is displaying at the exhibition, are Phill Jupitus, Alfons Bytautas and John Caldwell Brown.
The latter is known as a painter but his collages use the boxes, scattered throughout his workshop, of painted papers, offcuts, guillotined slices and collections of printed material.
“Phill’s type of collage is perhaps what people normally think of the genre: cut-out figures placed in a kind of narrative,” explains Rae. “Some of the others are similar to Phill’s work but others use collage to help with their composition or to add texture to the picture.
“There’s probably a science to it but I don’t know how it works, you just know when it does.
“But it’s certainly inspiring; try sitting for an afternoon with your magazines and a pair of scissors with some of your favourite music on and see what you can create. It would be quite satisfying.”