The Fruitfulness of Metaphor

The Gift by Andrea Burgay
30”x44”; collage/decollage of acrylic painted paper, magazine and book images, wallpaper samples; 2019. Courtesy of Jeffrey Scott French.

FROM KOLAJ 29

Excavations, Projections & Depth, Part II

A conversation between artists Clive Knights and Andrea Burgay evolved from a discussion planned for Kolaj Fest New Orleans in 2019. Introducing the atypical collage practices of both artists, the dialogue focuses on the use of physical methods of excavation as a metaphor for ideas that drive their work. Part One appeared in Kolaj 28 and featured Burgay interviewing Knights.

In Part Two, which appears in Kolaj 29, Knights interviews Burgay. To see the complete article, SUBSCRIBE to Kolaj Magazine or Get a Copy of the Issue.

Spirits Rising by Clive Knights
8”x8”; cut paper, light projection; 2019. Courtesy of the artist.

Fragmentation is a commonality of our human experience. The process of attaching, mending and unifying physical fragments in collage is a metaphor for psychological integration.

Nothing’s Ever Lost (Turn The Page) by Andrea Burgay
30″x44″; collage/decollage of acrylic painted paper, magazine and book images, wallpaper samples; 2018. Courtesy of the artist.

Knights: In my own recent ventures in what I call “light-ray excavations”, a term and practice admittedly inspired by Ben DiNino’s “biblioexcavations”, I use the term “excavation” to refer to a struggle for new possibilities of manifesting depth in the work, alongside a sense of unplanned discovery. There seems to be an excavational dimension to your work with material—layering, peeling, uncovering, burying, revealing, concealing, digging-in and piling-up—and I am intrigued to know what you believe this characteristic contributes to the success of your work.

Burgay: My most recent works create an imagined past in which accumulations of paper materials hold secrets and lost truths which can be revealed by peeling back the layers and digging for the right clues. It is unclear whether the unearthing process reveals repressed, forgotten memories or imagined, idealized notions of the past.

In Part Two, which appears in Kolaj 29, Knights interviews Burgay. To see the complete article, SUBSCRIBE to Kolaj Magazine or Get a Copy of the Issue.