ARTIST'S STATEMENT

Central Question

How can collage be used to document, reflect on, & critique the year 2020 in addition to serving as a time capsule for future generations looking back on these times?

Literature

Acclaimed Cubist artists Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque popularized modern collage art in the early 1910s, and were two of the first artists to gain recognition for including aspects of mass culture in their work (“The Birth of Collage and Mixed Media”). Collage was also hugely important within the Dada art movement, an innovative period marked by bold critiques of contemporary life. Hannah Hoch and Kurt Schwitters are two Dada collagists whose distinctive visual aesthetics significantly influenced my work throughout this project (Dickerman 2).

In the mid-twentieth century, the European-based avant-garde movement known as the Situationist International used collage to criticize many aspects of modern capitalism (Morgan and Purje).  They coined the term “détournement” to refer to the reuse and hijacking of visual components of mass media/culture to create a completely new composition as a form of social critique (“Détournement as Negation and Prelude”).

The internet has largely transformed the collage medium by allowing for boundless access to materials. Digital tools such as software and scanners have dramatically altered the artistic process itself (Chatel).

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Retrospective essays and media about 2020 reminded me of the events that occurred and their impact. One such example is Time Magazine's video, “2020: Watch the Year in Review,” which emphasized the prominence of the COVID-19 pandemic, civil unrest, elections, and the resilience developed during times of such great adversity (Kluger). 

Methods

I conducted extensive research on collage as a medium, the specific techniques associated with it, and the philosophies behind its use as a way of conveying their core message. I also studied the specific topics that were in the headlines during each month of 2020 to guide the subject matter of each collage.

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I challenged myself by making the collages digitally using Adobe Photoshop and sourced the majority of the images by taking screenshots of actual headlines on news websites and using copyright free images available on Flickr. My process involved downloading images, removing their background in Photoshop, and then adding them to my working design for each month.

Audience & Impact

An ideal audience for this project would be anyone who has lived through the year 2020, especially within the U.S., and has shared in these experiences firsthand. My intent is that the art has some form of cathartic impact on viewers. 2020 was undoubtedly difficult, but the idea that we are “all in this together” does provide a certain degree of comfort.

The secondary intended audience is future generations who might unearth this "time capsule" of 2020 and be able to gain a little bit of insight into what it was like to go through such a historic period of time. 

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On a personal level, the creation of this project and reflecting on the events of last year has been an emotionally cathartic experience because so much about my own life has changed because of 2020’s events.

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References

“The Birth of Collage and Mixed-Media.” Artsy, Artsy, 6 Feb. 2014,      www.artsy.net/article/matthew-the-birth-of-collage-and-mixed-media.

Chatel, Maria. “Digital Montage: On Collage and the Legacy of Modernism.” Medium, DIGITAL ART WEEKLY, 13 Jan. 2020, medium.com/digital-art-weekly/digital- montage-on-collage-and-the-legacy-of-modernism-ac9043247c61.

“Détournement as Negation and Prelude.” Translated by Ken Knabb, Situationist International Online, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 2020,    www.cddc.vt.edu/sionline///si/detournement.html.

Dickerman, Leah. Dada: Zurich, Berlin, Hanover, Cologne, New York, Paris. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2005.

Kluger, Jeffrey. “2020: The Year in Review.” Time, Time, 11 Dec. 2020, time.com/5919837/2020-year-in-review/.

Morgan, Tiernan, and Lauren Purje. “An Illustrated Guide to Guy Debord's 'The Society of the Spectacle'.” Hyperallergic, Hyperallergic Media Inc., 14 May 2017,    hyperallergic.com/313435/an-illustrated-guide-to-guy-debords-the-society-of-the- spectacle/.

Acknowledgments

Thank you to my faculty advisors as well as my peers who provided such helpful feedback throughout the process of creating this project!