Cutting Edges: Contemporary Collage

by Robert Klanten (Editor), J. Gallagher, Hendrik Hellige

Collage has an outstanding tradition in the modern visual arts. Influenced by surrealism and Dada as well as constructivism, the technique was firmly established as an art form in the 1920s and 1930s through the work of artists such as John Heartfield, El Lissitzky, and Hannah Hoch. Today, a new generation of young artists and illustrators is rediscovering collage. Cutting Edges is a collection of current artistic work that unites unrelated elements to create something new. Although the artists also use the computer for the purpose of montage, most of the featured collages are made by hand and often include found objects. It is not only the addition of visual elements that is important to the work, but also their deliberate omission, deletion, and destruction. While the combination of very different materials is charmingly reminiscent of the past, the innovative work in Cutting Edges proves that a new era ofcollage has begun. Texts by curator Dr. Silke Krohn put this current redisc

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Art Design

215 pages, Hardcover

First published January 28, 2011

About the author

Robert Klanten has been a key figure in the global creative industry for more than a quarter of a century, helping to reimagine the way we approach publishing. He has driven over 800 publications and commercial projects.
Robert is the CEO of gestalten, the company he founded in 1995. Under his leadership, gestalten has established itself as a pillar in the field of contemporary visual culture, design and architecture, by immersing its readers in creative landscapes, cultures, people and art. gestalten regularly collaborates with the biggest names in the creative world and is known and loved by millions around the globe for its iconic books.
He has shown how creativity has no limits in the digital age: through inspiration, inclusivity and promoting understanding; and by connecting the global and the local through storytelling.

Reviews

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the makers of The Age of Collage, another giant book of kick-ass collage art. I could see using this beauty as a textbook, turning to certain pages and trying to emulate certain styles. I'm looking at you, Mira Ruido, Alejandro Chavetta, Cless, Vlatka Horvat, Jesse Draxler, and Paul Burgess. the book includes a nice preface and a "brief history" of 20th century collage. Plus, the index in back includes the artists' websites and emails! *Swoon*

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cutting Edges begins with a minimal academic essay on the history of collage throughout the 20th century, but then quickly gets to the main course: a terrific selection of work by contemporary collage artists.

The nicely-designed pages are void of much explanation by the author or the artists, but the work is engaging and diverse enough to not need it. There is enough work by each artist to get a sense of each person's range, and enough diversity from artist-to-artist to show off the surprisingly multifarious possibilities of collage.

[André · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jelle Marten's series "In The Quivering Forest" (the pattern on the cover) once inspired me to create something similar algorithmically for a website design. Was hoping to find more geometric collages in the book, but most of the work in the book isn't geometric and doesn't particularly appeal to me (for other reasons). The works on the artists websites seem often better than the selection in the book (miraruido.com), perhaps a question of licensing costs. Honestly, the Internet image search would have been enough for inspiration here.

[Iowalibrarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful!

[Randy Johnson]

helped inspire my own work

[Andrea Tejeda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book.