Collage Art’s Place in 21st Century Art Development

The 21st century is an exciting time for artists. Centuries of art styles, booming technology for artistic experimentation, and a plethora of resources and materials ripe for inspiration. It is fitting that collage art takes its place as a leading art form and influencer in today’s world of art and artists. It is indeed an ideal time for collage, and collage is the perfect art for the 21st century.

Collage Has a Long History

Collage has been used in many ways over thousands of years but was never really embraced as a style until Braque and Picasso created the first modern, recognized collage in the early 1900’s. Artists in the genres of Dadaism Cubism, and later, Pop Art, jumped at the chance to use new resources to create works showcasing their bold styles. Since then, many artists have participated in the development of this style of art, continually adding the use of new materials, using newspapers and other media to share stories of events or narrate the culture of the time. Collage art has reached new heights in today’s world. In the last 100 years, it has become one of the most relevant forms of art making.

Tools for Today’s Collage Artists

There is no specific technique for collage work. It is a real transformation, taking something cast off and given new life. Modern collage artists have much more inspiration and resources available to create collage with wood, metal, plastic, bits of paper, photograph, and textiles to name a few.

Digital tools are available for collage art, but it is most often the refusal to use these tools which makes collage an accurate representation of the artist’s skill and creative vision. Collage is almost a return to what makes artistic creation ART…. the work of humankind, an expression of history, of culture, of opinions, using other man-made materials. However, one must be aware of the fact that it is digital technology which makes many of the materials used in collage available: from machine-made magazines and news articles to machined metals, technology may not be the heart but is genuinely the skeleton, of collage art.

Why Collage—What it Brings to the Current World of Art

Collage reflects our reality, our world. Since collage artists have access to an ever-expanding succession of media, artists can use collage to further social, economic, and political views and experiences.  There is no specific technique for collage work. It is a real transformation, taking items considered worthless or no longer needed, and giving them new life.

Collage art expands our understanding, from some of the properties of items taken for granted and discovering additional ways a story can be told. Artists can create works which exemplify their local culture with the globalization of the art market, online access to materials, and an international market. Acquiring objects increases learning about the world. Modern artists are renown for blurring the lines between fine art and pop culture, and collage art represents this blending well. Mixing time-honored materials like oil paints with cut out magazine advertisements and textiles offer a provocative outlook on what is commonly considered art, worthy of collection and investment.

Collage Can Tell a Story or Present a Complex Vision

The unique style of collage art lends itself to not only a story, a development within the piece. In the different mediums used within a piece, there appears to be layers of time, developing within the work itself. As each additional tool is used, a new aspect of the work is revealed.

Further, there is no perfection in art, and collage showcases that. Paths change at the same time the work is being created. Some artists admit that some artistic control is relinquished, and the art becomes alive, with its own identity beyond the creator, and at times, the final version may be even something different than the artist expected. The whole is much more than the individual parts.

Collage is almost an answer to, a protest or a joke about the materialism or pivotal events which have led the 21st century. In its use of non-typical art tools, of things considered waste or trash, collage art not only makes a statement about the materials having a new life, but adds to the declaration which the artwork announces, and triggers reactions in viewers by perhaps confusing them, driving them to question why the pieces equal the whole.

Sybaris Collection

We at Sybaris Collection recognize the immense variety of collage works available. Let us help guide you to discovering collage works which suit your taste and budget. For those looking for a more exclusive experience, consider joining our ARTclub.