The Age of Collage. Contemporary Collage in Modern Art

The Age of Collage. Contemporary Collage in Modern Art. Edited by Dennis Busch, Robert Klanten, Hendrik Hellige. Preface by Silke Krohn.

Available on amazon USA and UK.

Publisher Gestalten writes: The Age of Collage is a striking documentation of today’s continued appetite for destructive construction. Showcasing outstanding current artwork and artists, the book also takes an insightful behind-the-scenes look at those working with this interdisciplinary and cross-media approach.

The collages featured in this book are influenced by illustration, painting, and photography and play with elements of abstraction, constructivism, surrealism, and dada. Referencing scientific images, pop culture, and erotica, they reflect humanity’s collective visual memory and context.

Through confident cuts, brushstrokes, mouse clicks, or pasting, the work in The Age of Collage gives the impossible a tangible form. It expands the possibilities of the genre while turning our worldview on its head along the way.

Nils Karsten

A book with Yul Brynner on the cover was always going to get my attention.

The Age of Collage adopts the model that made the success of Gestalten books. Plenty of efficient images and a few comments about each of the 80 artists whose work is presented. The intro is more informative than usual (or maybe that’s just because i know so little about collages), it says a few words about the strategies of collage, its history and even more interestingly about its presence in contemporary culture from the Beastie Boys’ video Sabotage to sampling or mood boards of ads agencies (or even Pinterest i would add.)

And because this book is a visual joy from cover to page 285, i’m going to leave you here with a few discoveries i made while flipping through it: