11″x14″; label collage; 2024. Courtesy of the artist.
COLLAGE ON VIEW
Collage As Art Movement
at Kolaj Institute Gallery in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
14 June-31 August 2025 (part of Kolaj Fest New Orleans)
Opening Reception: 14 June 2025, 6-8PM
during Second Saturday in the Bywater Artwalk
The art movement is a useful yet artificial categorization of cultural production. An art movement can be a visual style, a group of artists, a philosophical approach, and more often than not, a marketing ploy. At their center is a group of people who symbolize and often champion the moment, often by articulating for others what is happening. Historically, an Art Movement referred to changes in style or aesthetic. However, since the advent of Modernism, as artists have changed the technology of art from picture making to experience making, each identified shift in art theory, philosophy, or approach became a new Art Movement, often encased with neo- and post-movement siblings and then revivals. Forgotten in this evolving idea of an Art Movement was the important fact that movements are always about people, masses of people engaged in dialogue and doing things in the culture.
Kolaj Institute has long maintained that collage is a community that operates like an art movement. In this exhibition, we offer a number of examples of how International Collage Artists come together, make art, and diffuse that art into the larger culture. The exhibition also explores how Kolaj Institute works to support that movement and the artists who participate in it. Among the work on view are panels from Special Agent Collage Collective’s exhibition, “colLABELage”; Frédéric Le ShoeShoe collages by Kolaj Institute Solo Artist in Residence Maria Turner; a collaborative scanograph made by artists from the Poetry & Collage Residency; selections from the Kolaj Institute folios, Authoritarian Regime Survival Guide and Frankenstein: 21st Century; an assemblage sculpture by Amite, Louisiana artist Julie Glass; a selection of art curated by Carol Lynch from the Collage Class at People Program NOLA, a non-profit organization that fosters lifelong learning and creativity in a vibrant community of seniors. Each of these exhibits is a starting point to explore how the International Collage Community operates as a 21st century art movement, a subject that Kolaj Institute will explore more deeply in the coming years.
Kolaj Fest New Orleans is a multi-day festival and symposium about contemporary collage and its role in art, culture, and society, 25-29 June 2025. Visit the website to learn more, see an overview of the program, and register to attend.
ABOUT KOLAJ INSTITUTE GALLERY
The mission of Kolaj Institute is to support artists, curators, and writers who seek to study, document, and disseminate ideas that deepen our understanding of collage as a medium, a genre, a community, and a 21st century movement. We operate a number of initiatives meant to bring together community, investigate critical issues, and raise collage’s standing in the art world.
Kolaj Institute’s Gallery in New Orleans presents exhibitions and connects Kolaj Institute and the artists we work with to the vibrant St. Claude Arts District. We produce 8-10 exhibitions a year and participate in Second Saturday, the neighborhood’s monthly art walk, putting the collage art, books and exhibitions in front of New Orleanians and visitors. The Gallery is located at 2374 Saint Claude Avenue, Suite 230, at the corner with St. Roch Avenue above the Peach Cobbler Factory. The Gallery is open Thursday-Saturday, Noon-6PM or by appointment.