“Collage takes dead material, a long forgotten Look magazine spread or Ford motor car advert, and reintroduces this material into the contemporary visual dialogue. Collage gives the image new life. This is remarkable and unique to the genre.”

–Ric Kasini Kadour, Kolaj #15 Editorial

Kolaj #15 delivers a look at the wonderful world of collage: the people who make it and the people who love it. In this issue, we pay particular attention to the source material collage artists are using.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Baptised by the Sea in Flayed Skin and Coral Crown by Michael Pajon is on the front cover. Pajon is an object maker and a storyteller. The New Orleans artist crafts elaborate, dense compositions inspired by Catholic reliquaries, antique cabinet cards, carnivalesque board games that trade on complex narratives and still-life-esque vanitas. And he does this with a deep understanding of his source material. A profile of him appears in the issue.

Given that it’s a medium that uses other people’s images, one of the most frequent questions collage artists ask is “Can I Use This?” Stephen M. Specht explores legal issues related to appropriated materials in collage art.

Julie Doucet has a new book, Carpet Sweeper Tales, and we explain why “Sister Chevrolet! Oh No knit ntique Ntters” is not a typo and, in fact, part of a brilliant collaged comic.

In News & Notes, we report on Gestalten’s second volume of Age of Collage; on what the Collagistas are doing in The Netherlands; on a call to artists for the National Collage Society’s annual Postcard Show; and on the release of Ireland-based Redfoxpress’ collaborative of visual poetry.

“Hunks of meat, that’s what they’re all about.” Claudia Eve Beauchesne interviews Stephen Zerbe about his food collages, Abercrombie & Fitch models, and sandwiches. Rachel Jones reports on feminist collage at the Women’s Center for Creative Work in Los Angeles.

Catherine G. Wagley gives us a profile of Hannelore Baron. “What distinguishes Baron most, and makes her an enigma: she didn’t seem to care a bit about pushing the limits, or staking her place in history.” A recent exhibition at Jack Rutberg Fine Arts remembers this fascinating artist.

We review one of the largest self-published collage collections by a single artist, Guillaume Chiron. The title of his book translates from French to something like “Eat the Banana Talk Standing Up” and signals the sort of surreal, absurd, and tasty collages found in Chiron’s book.

The back cover features We Left It All Behind For This? by London, UK artist Ben Owers. His artist portfolio appears in the issue along with portfolios by artists from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; San Anselmo, California; Barcelona, Spain; Vancouver, British Columbia.

And as always, a Kolaj Artist Directory.

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