“Si ce sont les plumes qui font le plumage, ce n´est pas la colle qui fait le collage.”

Max Ernst, Cahiers d’Art 

Two players, three components, and one spontaneous sign that we have up our sleeves…  who hasn’t played the notorious game of “rock, paper, scissors”? 

I have given myself permission to change the word “rock” to that of “glue,” given that this entire duo revolves around collage. Taking into account its etymology, the origin of the word collage comes from the French verb coller, meaning “to stick” or “to paste.” However, other interpretations consider the word collage as a combination of the Greek prefix “kola-” (meaning “glue”) and the suffix “-age” (meaning “action”). 

Although the technique existed previously, the pioneer of collage as an art form is historically disputed between the artists Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. In 1912, both artists started to include wallpaper, fabric, and other unconventional elements into their works. From there, collage has been practiced in various art movements (Cubism, Futurism, Dadaism, Surrealism, and Constructivism) up until the current day. 

Today our “dupla” (duo) takes the form of a game by the hand of its two protagonists:

On one hand, the artist Iván Prieto, best known for his work as sculptor, brings us this technique in its most traditional form. Relying on papers of different textures, paper clippings, and train tickets, Prieto creates an expressionist universe that is full of symbols. Curiously, although she specialized in sculpture in the past, the artist Alba Casanova develops animation, motion design, and digital collage with surrealist imagery reminiscent of Victorian photo collage.

If for Max Ernst, the grandeur of collage resides in the automatic behavior of the artist to fortuitously unite what used to be “banal elements,” the current exhibition appeals precisely to the importance of chance in the arts, as well as to its experimental—and playful—nature. 

Lucia C. Suárez