The Art of Collage

"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 20^th 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?

 ~ Laura Basha, PhD

* February 2014: “Nellie’s Java Café”, 1952 Mountain Blvd, Montclair, CA, 94611

* March 2014: “Studios Eleven Gallery”, 560 Second Street, Oakland, CA, 94607