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Collage (From the French, ''coller'', to stick) is regarded as a work of visual arts made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole. This technique made its first appearance in the early 20th century as a groundbreaking novelty, however with the passing of time it's become ubiquitous.

For example, an artistic collage work may include newspaper clippings, ribbons, bits of colored or hand-made papers, photographs, etc., glued to a solid support or canvas.

Its adoption has crossed the boundaries of visual arts. In music, with the advances on recording technology, avant garde artists started experimenting with cutting and pasting since the middle of the 20th century. However in the 1990's and 2000's it's completely apparent that "musical collages" have already become the norm for popular music, specially on rap, hip hop (rap-pop) and electronic music.


COLLAGE IN PAINTING


with a chair-caning design to the canvass of the piece.

Surrealist artists have made extensive use of collage. Cubomania is a collage made by cutting an image into squares which are then reassembled Automatically or at random. ''Inimage'' is a name given by René Passerson to what is usually considered a style of surrealist collage (though it perhaps qualifies instead as a Decollage ) in which parts are cut away from an existing image to reveal another image.

Collages produced using a similar, or perhaps identical, method are called '' Etrécissements '' by Richard Genovese from a method first explored by Marcel Mariën . Genovese also introduced ''excavation'' collage (that includes elements of decollage) which is the layering of printed images, loosely affixed at the corners and then tearing away bits of the upper layer to reveal images from underneath, thereby introducing a new ''collage'' of images. Penelope Rosemont invented some methods of surrealist collage, the ''prehensilhouette'' and the ''landscapade''.

Collage was often called ''the art form'' of the 20th century, but this was never fully realised.

Surrealist Games such as ''parallel collage'' use collective techniques of collage making.

Collage made from photographs, or parts of photographs, is called '' Photomontage ''.


DECOUPAGE


Decoupage is a type of collage usually defined as a Craft . It is the process of placing a picture onto an object for decoration. Often decoupage causes the picture to appear to have depth and looks as though it had been painted on the object.

The process is to glue (or otherwise affix) a picture to an object, then adding more copies of the picture on top, progressively cutting out more and more of the background, giving the illusion of depth in the picture. The picture is often coated with varnish or some other sealant for protection.


WOOD COLLAGE

Wood collage is a relative novelty in the world of collages. Wood collage art usually features pieces of wood, wood shavings and scraps, assembled on an empty canvas of plywood or wooden board. Wood collages offer remarkable depth and have a stunning 3-D quality about them.

Geeta Chaudhuri is a celebrated wood collage artist from India. Her works, called '''Artafar''' (i.e. art viewed from afar) represent some of the finest examples in wood collages. Visit www.artafar.com to view her works.


DIGITAL COLLAGE

Digital collage is the technique of using Computer tools in collage creation to encourage chance associations of disparate visual elements and the subsequent transformation of the visual results through the use of electronic media.


Digital collage artists



LITERARY COLLAGE


Collage Novel s are books with images selected from other publications and collaged together following a theme or narrative (not necessarily linear).

The Bible of Discordianism , the Principia Discordia , is described by its author as a literary collage.


LEGAL ISSUES


When collage uses existing works, the result is what Copyright Scholar s call a '' Derivative Work ''. Both the derivative work and the originals have copyrights associated with them.

Due to redefined and reinterpreted copyright laws, and increased financial interests, some forms of collage art are all but outlawed in some media, for instance in the area of Sound Collage ( Hip Hop Music ).

Examples of collage art that have run afoul of modern copyright are '' The Grey Album '' and Negativland 's ''U2''.

Regarding visual collages, there has been some attempt to argue that a ''consumptive use'', in which one would purchase a copyrighted work and physically incorporate that purchased copy into a collage, is protected under the First-sale Doctrine . This would seem to extend from the doctrine's guarantee that copyright holders cannot control what subsequently happens to lawfully purchased physical copies. A Fair Use argument could also be made as a consumptive use ensures that the copyright holder has been commercially compensated for every physical copy used. However, courts have not yet reached a consensus on this issue.



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