Collage: Contemporary Artists Hunt and Gather, Cut and Paste, Mash Up and Transform

by Danielle Krysa, Anthony Zinonos (Foreword)

Collage has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity during the twenty-first century, resulting in an explosion of creativity. This showcase of cutting-edge contemporary art from across the globe features galleries of collage by 30 practitioners, from the surreal landscapes of Beth Hoeckel to Fabien Souche's humorous appropriations of pop culture. Each artist has also created a new piece especially for this book—all using the same original image, but with results as wildly diverse as the medium of collage itself. This collection is visual inspiration for art lovers and an appreciation of the transformation of old into new.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Reference, Creative, Crafts

350 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 16, 2014

About the author

Danielle Krysa has a BFA in Visual Arts from the University of Victoria, and a post-grad in design from Sherian College. She began her career as a painter, but her love for graphic design quickly changed her interest from painting to mixed media - specifically collages filled with narratives, negative space, and pop cultural references. (Danielle Krysa is also is the writer behind the contemporary art site, The Jealous Curator, and the author of Creative Block, Collage and Your Inner Critic Is A Big Jerk.) Danielle lives and works in British Columbia, Canada.

Danielle has been making work for years, but she’s been focused on her current body of work since late 2015. Using found images, bright blooms/swashes of paint, and long funny titles, she is truly embracing her lifelong love of story telling.

Reviews

[Wendelle]

Bizarre, playful, moody, surreal, and emotional arrangements and assemblages

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

All in all, a well put together book of various artist's collages with a brief explanation of what inspired them and how they work. I enjoyed looking at most of the images and there were even some artists that I would look into further to see more of their work in this easy to read compilation. I gave it 4 stars and would recommend to the person looking for a little inspiration, or the person who enjoys collage as an art form. It was a quick read so not much of a commitment of time.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this book resembled a Pinterest board more than a thoughtful visual essay. However, understanding its roots as an art blog (Danielle Krysa = The Jealous Curator) relieves it from the burden of art criticism. I was excited to see Mark Bradley-Shoup's work included, as well as Jesse Draxler and Beth Hoeckel and all of their works look amazing in the reproductions. And, I was very happily introduced to the work of Xochi Solis. Including so many members of WAFA seemed a little odd, plus major oversights like Stephen Eichhorn and Courtney Egan (video collage!) kept me from loving this book. It's pretty, but not very comprehensive. Plus, the artist statements were mostly lame, it would have been better to have some essays about the artists work or maybe have them answer some specific questions about their studio practice. Or, no explanation at all... just pictures of their work.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great mix of various styles that might stretch your expectations of the form a little. For some reason, I'm still a purist and prefer the more simple paper and glue work as opposed to the work that is digital or uses thread or paint, but this is still a beautiful and inspiring collection and I'm so glad to see an American publisher putting this out. I really enjoyed the foreword and the introduction a lot and the collages of Hollie Chastain, Beth Hoeckel, and Lillianna Pereira are the main attractions here. My favorite discovery here though is Katrien De Blauwer, whose minimalist creations feel like they're holding so much power.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Krysa opens this book with a description of the challenge she set each of the artists included in the book: she gave them an image and told them to alter it in any way they liked. I won't lie, a big part of what made this book so enjoyable was seeing what each of the artists did with the image! So good.

[Daisy · Rating 3 out of 5]

During one of my art museum visits, I got acquainted with the works of Jet Leyco. I was particularly impressed by his short film Open house as well as three of his works of collage.
The visit made me long for more art after getting back to the hotel , and this was the book pick out.
I didn’t particularly like the essay part of the book and thought it read like blog posts ( not that it’s necessarily a bad thing, it’s just not what I was expecting).
I did really enjoy the artworks.

Not totally related to the book itself, but while I was viewing the artworks in this book for the second time, this line that was written on the wall next to Shen Chao-liang’s photographies in one of the exhibitions that I went to had been on my mind:


“我想像自己伴和著旋律，迎著滿月，站立在面對大海，炫麗四射的舞台車上。
海面上大片的熠熠發亮吸引了我的目光；原來是海底的魚兒聽到我的歌聲，紛紛露出水面，跟著我一起搖擺歌唱。”

[Juliette · Rating 4 out of 5]

I LOVE collage as an art form, and I love this book. The premise is that the author selected a found image and mailed it to approximately 30 collage artists and then the artists returned their own interpretations of the found image within a new collage. The book also features other works by the same collage artists. The book is beautiful and interesting and lovely and diverse. My only complaint is that I had hoped to use this in my middle school and high school classes as a text book but due to the Vintage nude girly images, I can't. Oh well...this one's for the adults.

[Josephine · Rating 3 out of 5]

there were some truly strange collages in here, but also some really cool ones. a compilation of 30 artists who collage. I want to look up these artists to see more of their work:
LARISSA HAILY AGUADO
MARíA APARICIO PUENTES
HOLLY GABORIAULT
BETH HOECKEL
ARIS MOORE
LILLIANNA PEREIRA
CIARA PHELAN
XOCHI SOLIS
BILL ZINDEL

[Penny · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a cool book full of fun, interesting collages and it was not set up properly to be an ebook. It was clear reading this as an ebook that the pictures were much bigger in the paper version, as here some of them were so small they were hard to get a sense of, and too low-resolution to zoom in on. Three stars because I still got to see a bunch of cool collages.

[Jackie Hanson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly a book of artists' statements and images, this was a quick read. Several artists inside inspired me to try collage in a new way. Not a book I plan to add to my collection, but I am glad I read it and viewed the art inside.

[Kate E · Rating 5 out of 5]

Collage is an excellent collection of work and artist statements. This is my new favorite reference book for my own artwork. Favorite artists include Xochi Solis, Lillianna Pereira, Beth Hoekel, Katrien De Blauwer, Lisa Cogdon, and Hollie Chastain.

[shary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Visually interesting collection of collages in a variety of styles and media. I'd consider this a casual coffee table book or inspiration for an amateur collager (is that a word?) more than I would consider this a read, per se.

Great introduction to 30 different artists to look into.

[Jodi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspirational art & artists. Love the differences and variations between artists. Book has great layout.

[patty · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read for fans of modern collage (both old school style and digital methods)

[Nadia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A 3.5-star rating.

"Nothing makes a collagist happier than digging through a box of images or a stack of books until we uncover that perfect image-the kind of image that stops the heart, just for a second, because of the amazing creative potential it holds. That transformation is one of the best things about collage: The artist gets to finish telling in a completely new way, a story that was started by someone else. Combining an old image with something modern. Adding a bold texture or color to a seemingly plain photograph. Suddenly there's an entirely new narrative that wouldn't have existed otherwise. Truly great collage artists take cues from what exists in the bits and pieces in front of them-then turn all of it upside down, add just the right unexpected element, and claim it as their own."
Introduction - pg. 10

Danielle brought together 30 diverse Collage Artists, each with a unique viewpoint for the medium. I particularly enjoyed the whimsical geometrics of Andrea D'Aquino, the moody search for identity of Jesse Draxler, the immigrant displacement perspectives of Khanh H. Lee, the poetic musings through cut paper of Peter Madden, and several others. A well laid out book with plenty of examples of each Artist's work, with an unexpected twist that each contributor was challenged to take the same photo and collage it, which really gave the reader a greater opportunity to understand their viewpoint. A wonderful resource for Collagists, as well as an engaging coffee table book.

[Marina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collage: Contemporary Artists Hunt and Gather, Cut and Paste, Mash Up and Transform presents a variety of collage artists with differing techniques and styles. It is a great introduction to some of the many collage artists, although I'm sure you could just find the artists online, it's nice to physically see the artwork in a book.

[Niki · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting collection of collage artists and the varying styles and techniques of the trade. I was happy to see some of my favorites - Lisa Congdon! - as well as an introduction of what I foresee to be new obsessions. The design of the book is really nice, and I loved that in addition to pieces from their portfolio, each artist was given the same project to work on. It was fascinating to see how a single source image could be used and interpreted in so many different ways. I still would have liked to be engaged a little more in the material - mini projects or peeks into tools and techniques. The artist statements are brief, and otherwise it's just a bunch of nice pictures.

[Nils Benson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic survey of 40 contemporary artists

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book on contemporary collage focusing on the work. not a lot of writing and the words that are there are for the most part lacking in pretension.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a lovely collection. Beautiful images, with a snippet of each artist's thought process, and short bios in the back. A fun look at the art of collage and a great book to have around the house.

[Cat Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some wonderful contemporary collage artists with inspiring new approaches to collage. And, as usual with Chronicle Books, a very nicely designed book.

[Allen Zaruba · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great resource book for the various ways that different artists can approach the same image!

[Phillip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Graphics Intensive. Minimal Text. Short Bios. Excellent Pictures