Thursday, March 28, 2024

The title as an element in a collage composition

I have always thought that titling an artwork is an important part of the creative process. That's why I never use "Untitled" for my works. I understand why an artist might not want to "bias" a viewer and why they might want the viewer to "title" the piece they are looking at. I just happen to disagree with that approach. Perhaps at the opposite end of the spectrum, I recently created two pieces for which I think the title played an integral role in the overall composition of the artwork. One was the piece I posted in the previous post. Since it is a pretty good bet, that most viewers would perceive the element on the lower left as including something phallic, I thought it would funny to "call out" the viewer with the title, "Hey, It's You Who's Making it Sexual". My hope is that the title will elicit a smile from the viewer. I created the piece shown below, a couple nights ago. After experimenting with various elements, I found this combination to be quite compelling visually. The patina of the vase (an element from 1870s!) matches quite nicely with the coloration of the lunar surface. The embracing sculpture echoes the handles of the vase quite nicely too. But then I was left with the text in the image (which, as a regular blog viewer would know, is something that is not typically found in my compositions). How do those words relate to the overall composition? How do they "fit"? Well, they really don't. Should they just be considered superfluous, but interesting? I wasn't sure how I would consider them. Then, it hit me. I thought it would be funny to think about it as alluding to the not uncommon experience of being in a relationship with someone who might say something strange in an intimate moment, and then you're thinking "What the hell does that mean!?". So I entitled this piece, "Charles Didn't Know What to Make of What She Said". In this case, the collage, in a way, is not really complete without the viewer experiencing the title (i.e., the piece cannot be fully appreciated with the title). Again, my hope is that the title will not only "illuminate" the piece, but also elicit a smile from the viewer.



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