THE ECONOMIC TIMES (MADRAS PLUS) - 7-IV-2006

 

ART
BEAT
HEMA VIJAY

Collage is an art form that is indisputably gaining acceptance among senior artists in the country

Children love it. Snipping colourful paper to bits and sticking them merrily on a hard board. But there is more to collage than just fun. You may or may not agree with the late collage artist Donald Barthelme's statement that 'the principle of collage is the central principle of all art in the 21st century', but collage as an art form is indisputably gaining acceptance among senior artists in the country. This art form's origin can be traced to France.
Chennai, a city that is yet to see collage art happening, gets to sample the scope of collage art through the display that is currently on at the Lalit Kala Academy which includes large scaled collage works by French artists Chantal Gowa and Martine Quentric Seguy, who have made Pondicherry their home for several years by now.
In fact, the two of them have collaborated to produce a massive six-meter long collage panel, which firmly says that collage is not just serious art, but a very challenging one at that. A piano box has been used as the substratum for this work. This panel has been folded around to form an enclosure, with the collage on view outside. These collages are relatively abstract, but you do sense formations emerging from them in places. With a canvass that is as vast as six meters, this is perhaps inevitable.
"There are so many artists and so many art trends happening in India that makes Indian art very exciting", says Gowa, who moved to Pondicherry's Auroville in 1991. Gowa runs the Visual Arts School that she opened at Auroville. The fact that the bits of paper that go on to make the collage contain written words and symbols is perhaps what aids the collage in covering a huge volume of meaning. "My work has been hugely influenced by India," adds Martine Quentric Seguy who has been a faithful visitor to India for over three decades and made her home in Pondicherry in the last few years.
"Creating serious collage art is very tricky, and very challenging, even more so than traditional painting, because, with collages, it is so difficult to get at the right colours that you want," says Quentric Seguy, adding, "In fact, collages are unpredictable, and you often don't know how they are going to turn out to be." However, the massive collage panel at the Lalit Kala Academy firmly establishes that collages can be very effective, and at times, very provoking too.
The show is on at the Lalit Kala Academy till April 7.

Vino Kutt

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