"What If I Speak My Truth?"
Laura Basha
Paper Collage, 2004
COLLAGE
“Collage
is the twentieth century’s greatest invention.”
~ Robert Motherwell
While artists have been utilizing combinations of mixed
media for some time, “collage” garnered attention as its own art form, a medium
in its own right, at the turn of the 20th century, a result of the
creative endeavors of Cubists Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque.
These two notary experimental painters coined the term
“collage” from the French verb “coller”, “to stick or glue”, referencing the
combination of paper, images from publications, fabrics, and other everyday
elements into two dimensional artistic expression. Such co-mingling of what was
considered true artistic medium along with the common elements of daily life
revolutionized what we know as modern art. Taking disparate elements and arranging them into a
harmonious whole is quite possibly a metaphor for a life well lived. Perhaps Motherwell
was right …
Although collages can be non-verbal commentary on the politics and social
conditions of the day, collages, created as works of art in their own right,
act also as symbolic tools for revealing intuitive understanding to an
individual or to any viewer seeking insight, bringing innate wisdom to
cognitive awareness.
The process of intuitively choosing images and arranging them in a
particular composition can shed light on many perplexing issues. Non-verbal
symbols communicate valuable insight, as our own wisdom often lies deeper than
our conscious thought. We are naturally drawn to images that represent the
answers we seek.
The question is always preceded by the answer that wants to be brought up
to conscious awareness.
I will have an exhibit of a small collection of my own collages during
February and March in Oakland, CA*. Some of the pieces in this exhibit are
dated, some are not. As the choices for the images emerge from the subconscious,
where there is no time, both dated and non-dated pieces express the
timelessness of transformation and awakening.
Through collage, one can capture the essence of authenticity which
catalyzes struggle: fear of running out of time, exhaustion born of woundings
of the heart, aloneness arising from not being heard, suppression from not
speaking one’s truth. Through capturing the non-verbal essence in an image, the
struggle is released, the essence expressed … the possibility of freedom
towards the probability of transformation.
Though some images may be familiar, perhaps sleepwalking is not our fate.
What do we hear when we listen for what we don’t know?
What does the naked eye see?
* February 2014: “Nellie’s
Java Café”, 1952 Mountain Blvd, Montclair, CA, 94611
* March 2014: “Studios
Eleven Gallery”, 560 Second Street, Oakland, CA, 94607
