Geoff Wonnacott

Geoff Wonnacott
Kinburn, Ontario, Canada

STATEMENT

There are many common denominators for the making of collage works; sources, materials, tools, techniques, manipulations, these things are the grist of process. For non-digital works, physical “bits” and related activities are what comprise the unique objects and images that are commonly identified as collage. In essence, collage is a practical assembly of components. To call it art is to give it a context. With this observation, one can find collage throughout the history of human expression. It could be prehistoric cave paintings with hand prints and layered depictions of animals, or more presently, a visual snapshot of a modern streetscape; vehicles, signage, animated billboards, flashing lights. We have become wired to accept conglomerations of information, materials, and images. One can find meaning in what may have previously been seen as chaos. With modern tools and the evolution of aesthetics and design principles, we have the capability for processing a new visual vernacular. It is no wonder collage is so popular.

Once the domain of established artists, today collage has seeped into almost every nook and cranny of contemporary arts culture. It is well established as a genre and is a popular and recognizable outlet for artistic expression. It can take many forms from sentimental poetics, arcane narratives, chaotic rants to razor-edged design or to whatever one can imagine or maybe never have imagined. It can seem the possibilities are endless.

I am strictly non-digital, analogue if you will, a cut and paster. Not anti-digital, great stuff happening there, it’s just not my process. I love shuffling and sorting my scrippets of paper. Collage may be a collaborative or individual venture but it will always tap into a personal creative process. Once enabled with materials and techniques it becomes an activity directed by an individual’s personal psychology. It is a matter of decision-making, intuition, spontaneity, memory, free association, and experience, all managed by an innate sense of order. Putting these factors together determines the ultimate arrangement of material within a format. But there is more to it, another dimension. Someplace I welcome. Where there’s surrender, surprises, revelations, confidence, losing oneself, making mistakes, finding a path. There’s magic. It’s seductive.

Collage is a medium, a genre, and for me, a state of mind.

BIO

I live in Kinburn Ontario, a small village west of Ottawa, Canada. I am a self-employed artist-contractor, fabricating and installing exhibit components for museums and galleries. In the past, I maintained a long-standing position as Head of Exhibition Preparation with the Canadian Museum of History (nee Canadian Museum of Civilization). As an artist my work includes; performance, installations, documents, sculpture, photography, and collage. My work has been exhibited physically and virtually in Europe, the USA, and Canada. Most recently I have corresponded through the postal system with artist Axelle Kieffer to produce collaborative works. Very nice to be included in her exhibition “Paper Cuts. Collaborative collage with Axelle Kieffer” at Sulfur Studios, Savannah, Georgia, USA.

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