Paper Magic - Collage

Collage is a form of art (a paste-up) in which various materials like pieces of paper, photographs, fabric, wool; woods, etc. are glued to a paper or canvas to render an artistic image. It is also a collection of ‘diverse’ things. In that sense my life itself is a colorful collage.

The idea of collage was buried deep within my mind since my childhood like that of a seed beneath the soil before it grows into a plant. Then one day in early 2007 when my son has been absent for a long duration I thought of making a collage; my first collage. Prior to this I had never seriously contemplated of making one; neither did I have any knowledge of how to make one. I only knew its dictionary meaning and nothing else. When an idea strikes me, which is often, I must immediately get it into action, be it writing, singing or painting or anything at all. My mind is like that, it gets excited like that of a child and then it cannot rest till I have succumbed to its bidding.

I had a collection of old magazines, which for a while my son had been asking me to get rid of. I didn’t read them but I had a vague idea that one day I would be able to use these magazines in some productive way so had kept them safe. With few hazy images in my mind I started going through these magazines, eyeing their pictures, text fonts, etc and slowly but surely a larger and firmer image gathered momentum. On 4^th of Feb 2007, exactly five years ago to this date, I began my first collage compilation. I had to sift through ideas as collage must begin with just that, an idea, which then needs to be translated into something tangible and visually appealing and then one needs to search and collect relevant pictures and cut them according to the mosaic. I wanted to rely mostly on papers so I looked for picture within pictures and where I found none I filled up gaps with watercolors.

Here I present an ensemble of my collages, few of which are framed and hang in my drawing room greeting visitors, others remain within my shelves. They are colorful; they depict some aspects of life and this beautiful world of ours. I haven’t seen or been to many places physically but my mind can still conjure such images since I live exactly the way my collages are – vibrant, colorful and always youthful. 

Collage with a message

My first collage - 04 Feb 2007