Geoff Wonnacott
 24″x20″; cut paper; 2024. Geoff Wonnacott STATEMENT In today’s world 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. Recently I have read many artists statements in the Kolaj Artist Directory. I can relate to just about anything anyone writes. I’ve been assembling collage works for a long time. With many artists writing about methods, creative process etc., there is a commonality and I can’t help but recognize it as something intimately familiar. The following are short descriptive excerpts from various artists text: 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. Sticking together some hidden order of things. Collage will always tap a personal creative process. I have a huge resource of sorted and filed materials. I can make whatever I want, go where I want. There’s surrender, surprises, revelations, confidence, losing, oneself, making mistakes, finding a path. There’s magic. It’s seductive, it’s a flexible state. One I share with many it seems. 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 (neé 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, USA and Canada. I am very happy to have my work included in several publications and some notable venues: “Surreal Salon 11” and “Surreal Salon 13”, Baton Rouge Center for Contemporary Art, Louisiana, USA; “Measure Twice, Cut Once”, La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, California, USA; “Paper Play”, Outsiders and Others Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; “Paper Cuts”, Arts Southeast, Georgia, USA. ARTIST CONTACT IMAGES  24″x20″; cut paper; 2019.  14″x12″; cut paper; 2025. Year of the Snake.  24″x20″; cut paper; 2015.  24″x20″; cut paper; 2022. |