The art of collage is often a dangerous one, flirting with the use of copyrighted images and existing works, just like this piece from one of its ‘modern masters’ Robin Isley. This mysterious cut and paste wizard has sadly vanished from all media, some think because of the hassle their re-imagined works of sometimes still living artists would bring. This altered version of Alexandre Brun’s “View of the Salon Carré’ is a personal favorite, the manipulation being titled Room Of Human Sorrows.
It brings a whole new atmosphere to the classical painting and takes us into a surreal fantasy where tears are considered artworks. It’s a work that resonate very closely to what I myself create as a filmmaker and one I revisit often, it’s striking juxtaposition hypnotically touching and saddening. The power of collage lies in finding these existing images and giving them a whole new spin and I do hope the practice can and will continue if it delivers us works as powerful as this one. Perhaps one day its creator will pick up their digital scissors again and we’ll see more of their wonderful works, but until then we’ll be left with the many lovely interpretations that can still be found one google search away.
