Portfolio: Collage
"The purest essence of the energy of the heaven-earth world coalesces into rock. Within the size of a fist can be assembled the beauty of a thousand cliffs. The humane man loves mountains, and the love of stones has the same meaning. Thus longevity through quietude is achieved through this love."
Confucius
There is a wonderful opportunity in collage to combine otherwise unrelated elements into a work and create totally new and unexpected connections. Through a careful selection of natural found objects, combined with handmade papers and mixed media, the unexpected and surprising is born.
In the simple complexity of the resulting cohesive image our associations come alive as we are taken into a world that appears familiar or recognizable. The fragments from our physical world and the found natural treasures are the tangible stuff of this mundane existence which together in this context present new possibilities of involvement. Beyond the experience of a specific space/time we are brought to other places, fantasies and experiences through the combination of disparate found objects, ephemera, antique maps, photographs and illustrations.
"...Kunstadt interrogates the nature of time and change, calling into question the nature of her own enterprise as an artist who recycles the products of nature into personal expressions of our common experience. Yet she does not undertake the transformation of natural objects lightly, but as a ritual of devotion and celebration." Ed McCormack Familiar Objects Acquire New Meanings in the Collages of Carole P. Kunstadt
