Using magazine pages (material contemporaneous to our lives, or even from before our time) allows for meta-appropriation of the mediated-ness of our lives. There's also a recycling aspect to the work, which alleviates artist scarcity mentality, as recycled magazines are still easy to come by.
This method of collage has always been a part of my creative process. It lends itself to conveying metaphor and identity very well. Torn pieces of magazine and colored papers can come together in this method to portray a more specific version of a subject--which can welcome clues, personal details, secrets, hidden images and/or text that illuminate understanding of the subject.
I've recently had the honor of sharing the technique with more students around the world. Below are snippets from various projects.
"Su Favorita," 9x9 inches, torn paper collage on board, 2022.
"Feminine Matrixial," 2x6 feet, torn paper collage on board, 2020. Photo by Sage Look.
Work in progress. Life size: 5' 3"
detail
4 feet in diameter
https://prism.ucalgary.ca/handle/1880/111131
"Untitled," 18x24 inches, torn paper collage, 2009. Sold.
"Untitled," 18x24 inches, torn paper collage, 2009.
In Chiang Mai, Thailand, the teenaged boys in the Juvenile Detention Center tried working in torn paper collage for the first time. They worked over printed images of their beloved, late King, H.M. Bhumibol Adulyadej. This technique is about matching colors and shapes in a painterly way to create a unique interpretation of a familiar subject--rather, than using images to re-present familiar subject matter. Magazine pages were used to create these intriguing portraits.
As promised, the guys got the torn paper collage technique down and created one of their own likenesses on a life-sized scale--to be included in a final canvas mural commission for a Chicagoland hospital (April 2017).
