Collection

Collection, when information pertinent to the focused perspective is gathered and uncertainty subsides as interest and involvement deepens. (Kuhlthau)

Now that I've found a focus for my research, it is moving a lot more quickly and I feel more efficient. I can go straight to the information I need, both written and imagery. There is still a lot of work left to do, but since I have a focus it doesn't feel overwhelming, but is actually empowering. I am aware of my understanding increasing as I gather more data. It feels distinctly different from exploration where there were so many possible directions to go in.

I read selections from the books I had found specifically on the topic of collage techniques, and decided to focus on frottage and decollage. I haven't tried either of these techniques before, but I like the examples I am finding. I am collecting information about the procedures and the purposes for which they have been used by other artists. Besides the examples in the books I am reading, I am also looking up more images online and using Pinterest to collect these (you can see my board here).

Here is an outline of my findings:

• Frottage - "the transference of surface forms and patterns, generally in low relief, by rubbing" (Hutton, 69). Another way of using outside imagery; uses patterns that are not found in a printed form; incorporates three-dimensionality
• Ernst - "In 1925 he put together a selection of frottages for the portfolio Histoire naturelle." (Moderna Museet)
• "The effects produced by such techniques were central to Ernst's Surrealist ideas, allowing chance rather than the conscious mind to play an important role." (National Galleries of Scotland)
• Traditional rubbings
• Lee Aguinaldo
• Decollage - method of removing, tearing, or destroying posters to create new and unexpected imagery (Waldman, 249); involves the action of unpeeling or tearing away the paper which has been previously wetted and glued…general procedure is to color several sheets of paper (with oil, acrylic, water color, or ink) and paste them down, layer upon layer, until five or six thicknesses have been laid (Hutton, 66)
• Vostell
• Rotella, Il mostro immortale (Waldman, 251); Marilyn (Taylor, 169)
• "Material texture of the city…specifically its layered entertainment posters and crumbling wall surfaces" (Taylor, 147)
• Controlled anonymity, unpredictable effects; new model of artistic agency
• Hains, The Gypsy Woman (Waldman, 252); and de la Villegle, Ach Alma Manetro
• Formal dismantling of the artwork and new kind of attitude to time (Taylor, 148)
• Shifted artistic agency from privacy of the studio to public arena of the street (ibid)
• Linguistic decay
• Affiches lacerees

Hutton, Helen. The Technique of Collage. London: Batsford, 1968. Print.
Taylor, Brandon. Collage: The Making of Modern Art. London: Thames & Hudson, 2004. Print.
Waldman, Diane. Collage, Assemblage, and the Found Object. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1992. Print.