Collage Today
In the modern age, circa 2024, collage has moved past just using paper. There are two methods: analog and digital.
| Analog | Digital |
|---|---|
| Paper | Photoshop, Canva, other editing tools |
| Scissors, scalpel, fingers | Pen tool, erase tool, lasso tool |
| Magazines, newspapers, journals, books, etc. | Internet |
Analog collages are still done with paper, whether blank or printed, notebook or magazine. One may use scissors or scalpel to cut, or one may use their hands to tear off a part.
Digital collages discard the paper as a physical space and instead simply approach any digital artboard of canvas as the paper. One can simulate the look and feel of paper by adding paper textures and overlays, but not all collage artists do this. Most photo editing programs have tools like the eraser, lasso, and pen tool, all which can be used to cut out an image digitally. As electronic as it is, I don’t think the digital collage abandons how collage relates to paper, only that it replaces it with a general canvas.
Paper, for collage, is important as it limits not just the space of your artworks, but also its resources. For the analog route you can only work with the paper and prints that you have. Once you run out, you’re out–the exercise of working with these boundaries is what pushes collage as an artform. However, you may still argue the same for digital collages, as collage artists can only work with whatever appropriate image they can digitally scan or find. And yet, through these limits, a variety of collage styles can still be found.
The following examples of collages are not the textbook definitions or titles or genres of collage unless specified. Not all of these are universal terms, but some are simply types I've come up with to recognize them better and to give each type of collage their distinctions. Types of collages can intersect and new ways of seeing can always be developed.
Cubist
Even if this goes back to Picasso and Braque, this type of collage can still be found today. Cubist collages often use everyday, commonfolk materials—such as newspaper, wallpaper, alcohol labels—to create a disjointed, yet abstract imagery of still common objects. It is very much an expression of commonality, and it exercises community as well, since the images being sourced can be identified by the majority of people who view them. It's an art that shows in the most ordinary things.
Minimalist
This has a lot of similarities with cubist collages in how they look, but where cubist collages (I believe) is limited in both use of materials and intention, minimalist collages are not. They can use from any source possible and can be chic or editorial, as long as your amount and use of sources is minimal. Minimalist collages are stripped down to the most essential elements, usually abandoning the background and focusing on the foreground and the silhouettes you can make. These types of collages can also be found used for commercial reasons, though not all the time. Nonetheless, minimalist collages are a good way to learn to control and use your assets efficiently, and they can make some striking artworks.
Scrapbook
Alternatively I'd call these the Tumblr collages, and I mean this positively. These are probably the most popular and known collages done today and for good reason, since these scrapbook collages are the first collages most of us may have been exposed to. I think it really started to gain its traction in the early days of the internet, when teens were transitioning from the use of physical diaries to blogging sites like Friendster, Multiply, and then Tumblr. Scrapbook collages are usually made of mementos, notes, candy wrappers, photos, and whatnot that can bear important-to-no meaning to the one who made them. You don't necessarily have to be an artist to do these types of collages, as these are more or less expressed as a means of collecting your favorite things on paper. Scrapbook collages are fun, as they lend themselves to more dynamic and playful expressions, but they're also a way of memory-keeping and making your journal entries more visual and memorable. If Anne Wagner's friendship book was a thing today, it would probably have scrapbook collages.
Decorative
Decorative collages have similarities with diary collages, but these ones seem to focus on a cleaner layout, separating the objects together. Essentially, decorative collages are just a list of miscellaneous items, related or unrelated, that have been organized onto the canvas. Think of it as an intentionally layed out inventory check, with every item and decor clear to see. It may seem easy to accomplish, but I personally find it difficult to do, as it requires a lot more intention in placement than other collages. Arrangement and variety of objects is key here. It's a collage style reminiscent of Wes Anderson's own item arrangement for certain shots in his films, and it's been gaining some traction on Pinterest, as Pinterest now allows you to create collages using their pins.
Surreal
Surreal collages abound today, as relatives of diary collages as well. It is a mix of different elements, usually blending two or three that do not logically go together or may seem impossible together. I love surreal collages since they lend themselves more to fantastical themes and visuals, which means that the room for play is a lot larger.
Mixed Media
Collages don't always have to use paper. Especially for analog artists, they have the advantage of always being able to use other kinds of sources—such as plastic, flowers, or even paint—to blend in with their paper collages. Since collage is a very expressive medium, any material can be used as long as you can insert it into the canvas.
True-True Collage
Now please hear me out. You've been reading everything I've said so far, hear me out on this one. While I wouldn't call this a style of collage, I would rather describe this as a way of how the collage is being formed, or by how the collage is presented. This may sound like I'm complicating things (which I am), but it's a thought that's intrigued me so far, and I would like it to be considered by others as well.
As you and I would both know at this point, collage is basically when two, three, or more objects from different pictures or artworks come together. This is always true. But how do they come together?
Let's say we want to make a collage of a banana. We gather 3-5 images of different bananas, cut them up in different parts, then assemble them together to make a banana. Yet how do we assemble this Frankenstein's banana? This is where we start to ask if a collage is True-True. If the banana collage being made was formed so that it would be obvious that it is a collage (E.G. we use rough cuts, torn edges, noticeable difference of texture, different colors, etc.), then we can argue that the banana collage is True-True. This means that the collage presents itself as truly a mix of different pictures, while also being truly a collage. It does not hide or disguise itself as anything else: this is a collage of a banana. What you see is what you get.
False-True Collage
If the previous example sounds weird as to why it needed to be presented, I want to explain what I think a False-True collage is next.
Going back to the banana collage. Let's say we've gathered 3-4, or however many amount of images of different bananas. Now we want to cut up their different parts and assemble them together to make a banana. So we do. But if we make the cuts look seamless—wherein there is almost zero to no clear point of transition between the cuts—then we might come out with a banana collage that just looks like a photo of a banana. One may even think it wasn't a collage in the first place.
This is what I call a False-True collage: meaning that the collage falsely presents itself not as a collage, but as a completely different medium of art or as a photo, while still truly being a collage in its artform. This is done through smooth cuts, proper placement, careful use of pieces with the same style or texture, and a lot of patience. Of course the application will differ artwork to artwork, but the effect rather stays.
A lot of collage artists, like Moon Patrol, employ a sense of false-truth in their artworks like with this collage. If you weren't aware that Moon Patrol was a collage artist or that this artwork was a collage, you may think it was a 70s-80s Smokey the Bear ad, ala Mad Max style.
The reason why I wanted to bring up True-True and False-True is because a lot of modern collages can differ in how they're presented. However, I did not bring up this up to point out that one is more clever than the other, or show that one has superiority. Each style of collage is still genuinely a collage, and both achieve their own effects equally. As someone who's done both kinds of collages, both presentations have their strengths.
True-true collages embrace the experimental method that collage offers, and so brings to the canvas an other-dimensionality to the pieces by introducing different textures and styles of images. False-true collages however, are made of selectively picked sources to mix and match with each other and create a seamless collage. Honestly, it's neat to see collages that show off their scrapbook texture while also having collages that hide in plain sight. There's merit to both and it takes great skill to wow a viewer in either forms. I just think they're both incredible, and getting to know these things makes one a sharper collage artist.