from the dimly-lit 104 Jerome Green Hall
Collage: from the French “coller”, which means to glue, to stick…
I’ve always been fascinated by art which requires deconstruction. There is something incredibly poetic about creation emerging from destruction, almost like a phoenix or a rebirth… because art always appears to be a birthing process, in which something beautiful emerges from a person. The word “collage” is so interesting because it specifically only refers to the sticking process, the steps that the artist takes to put together her work of art. The word, as is, entirely neglects the destruction that happens presumably minutes before, where a pair of scissors (or another cutting utensil) was put to another piece of material… and for many collages, this material is in fact another piece of art (think of yourself cutting up magazine to make a collage of yourself for grade school).
Sometimes, destruction is so necessary for creation, and in that way, destruction is beautiful in itself. In the same way, there’s beauty in breakdown.