the work that works for you
My friend Kirk Read calls it "fussy cutting". That intricate and meticulous way of cutting out images for collages with a steadiness and precision akin to surgery.
Kirk is great at it. Exceptional really. He pieces together these highly detailed scenes that are filled with winding complexity. Rich explorations of nostalgia, foreboding, and whimsy.
Whatever the name is for the gift or talent that provides him with this ability is irrelevant. The fact is that he posses it abundantly.
I wish I had it. I wish I knew how to cultivate it. But the more I search myself for it, the more I find it missing. Maybe I have too short an attention span. Maybe I lack the fortitude. Maybe I'm just lazy.
All my cutting happens in straight lines. A utility knife pulled along a ruler. Simple and unassuming. Never straying. Never wavering. There's nothing fussy about it. It's just cropping.
Instead, I focus on my source material in a different way. I look for ways to manipulate it. To play with it. To make it more interesting on it's own.
I take scans of my analog collages and later them digitally. I'll enlarge things on a copier until they become abstracted and intriguing. I'll take photographs, add graphic elements and typography, and experiment with the blending. I'll feed some of it into Midjourney to see how it reacts to it. To see how it might change things. I print it all out and then I start cutting, un-fussily.
"Play to your strengths" some will tell you, and there's an element of it that's true. But sometimes your weakness is your secret weapon. Sometimes it's your crutch that makes you unique.
The trick is to find what makes the work work for you.
P.S. - ICAD Day 209 - 212 - All the collages below, and many others, are available for purchase here.
P.P.S - Recently I was fortunate enough to be the Featured Artist in Colle’s weekly newsletter. I’m incredibly great to them, and especially grateful to Mario Zoots (IG here) for his excellent work putting the whole thing together. Line below if you’d liek to give it a read:
https://www.revuecolle.com/issues/vol-2-issue-no-78
P.S. I’d be curious Duane to hear about “narrative” in your work. As you seem like you are creating/generating more of your own source materials, do you have a story or a world that your collages work within? I’m curious especially about things like Midjourney and what sort of prompts you use — like I see a number of robot/doll like figures coming into play and I wonder if they are characters to you?
“Fussy cutting” is a big part of my process, but I have to have good lighting. I use a blade only when absolutely necessary. Focusing on putting scissors to paper is meditative and relaxing for me.