“A cold start is a hard start.”
— Stephen King
There must be a lot of ruined publications out there, because the “collage on book cover” has become a staple of the medium in recent years. I happen to live across the street from a public library, and I’ve been known to peek into their recycling bins from time to time. If the decisions of libraries are any indication, cast-off books will supply the needs of artists for quite a while, and I’m not talking about just covers. Perhaps the societal move from print to digital has in some measure fueled the explosion of collage worldwide. Much could be said about that alone, but let’s stay focused on the book cover.
As a substrate, it has all the aspects for which a collage artist is looking — strength, durability, unusual textures, and it often provides other desirable features, such as embossing, foil stamping, plus interesting typography that need not be superimposed. I will generally wrap my collage ingredients around the dimensions of the working surface, and this adds an “artifact” quality to the creation, because it takes on the perceptual properties of an actual object. Book covers can lend themselves to this effect.
For me, the book cover also triggers its own unique intuitive responses — unconscious associations that will “jump-start” the process in a more experimental way than the typical “blank canvas,” which invites more initial calculation. Any component of a publication has the vestiges of an anonymous designer’s preexisting sensibility. There is already a context, perhaps a pictorial or narrative allusion, but, at minimum, a tactile or color stimulus. It is not a cold origin.
There are times when a collage at the scale of a book cover will capture a microcosm of “the moment,” whether or not we can interpret all the elements at a rational level, whether or not we can ascribe “meaning” to it. I see many collage artworks that communicate little beyond “disorganization” or “chaos.” But there are others that probe deeper to the heart of something more significant, and are the result of an artistic intent at some level of mindfulness, even if it has not derived from a series of choices that involve an outer, deliberative awareness. Then again, it is dangerous for me to generalize about anything. Each creative process is distinctive. Discover yours!
Threshold Of Control
collage miniature on book cover by J A Dixon
7 x 10 inches
Purchase this artwork!
This Side of Recklessness
collage miniature on book cover by J A Dixon
7 x 10 inches
Purchase this artwork!
Today is the commencement of Februllage, a month-long, collage-a-day initiative of Edinburgh Collage Collective and The Scandinavian Collage Museum. I’ll be keeping my eye on the Instagram-centered project. There’s already an overwhelming flurry of creative activity, and I intend to jump in sporadically when a daily ‘prompt word’ ignites. I have more than enough studio obligations to fill my winter calendar, but it’s always important to keep the pump primed. March has been my favored month for tackling a collage-per-day ritual, and the exercise has always proved rewarding. Take a look at my first one in 2013, and please stop back to see how the Februllage challenge shapes up here.
