I create collages that create themselves;
reveal my Self and creating me anew.
My collages began as private works of Art-Journaling, not meant for public eyes.
I arrived to art from the fields of Philosophy and Cultural Studies, starting my “artistic path” in Art Journaling – working in various creative techniques in a book/journal format. Of the various techniques available, I found myself returning, again and again, to creating collages.
I started with a single central image, yet the compositions continued to grow. Images and symbols manifested themselves: figures of people and animals – imagined creatures that conflated man and nature, the familiar and ‘the other’. The resulting collages were surreal, like day-dreams, in which I incorporate images/figures from the realm of classic art, printed periodicals, newspapers and documents from everyday life. The integration of animal images and meaningful symbols from various cultures provides added depth and additional layers to my work. The linkage and connection between the separate images in the process of forming a “dream story” are accomplished by numerous layers of acrylic paint, over which I superimpose scribbles and drawings, using acrylic markers.
The use of "readymade" and the various references to the great artists of history serves as a bridge to the past, while their re-contextualization in my collages makes them part of the present dreams along with a bridge to the future.
I never plan my collages ahead of time. That would be impossible. My work is wholly intuitive. Often, I feel like I've hit a dead end. Sometimes I get stuck in the initial stages of choosing a central figure needed for the beginning of ‘the journey’; other times, in the search for secondary figures to accompany him. When I come to these dead ends, it seems like the scraps of paper come together, of their own accord and autonomously, start their journey for meaning, along the expanse of white. The connection between the figures and the story, that wants to be told, isn't always clear to me, amongst the endless possibilities. It often feels like the collage will never come together – the feeling that something is missing, or out of place. That's when I begin to search for an element that will bind all the figures together. There were times that I, or rather the collage, asserted that a crocodile, or some other animal, should be added. The reason why, that animal came up, only became clear once the collage was complete.
It may seem like color and papers are the building blocks of a collage, but that isn't so. My collages are built slowly from the blocks of the soul – from the building materials of the Self – with layers and layers of color on top.
Many times, as I worked, I felt that I wasn’t working alone; it seems, without intending to, I make use of the collective unconscious and a deep base of collective knowledge that is far deeper than my personal knowledge. For this reason, I am of the opinion that my collages convey universal messages and create dream stories that “belong” to every person, as their own; and that it was not up to me, rather they have to be exposing to the world.
Looking at the works in different contexts – Different lighting, different times of day, from up close or afar – reveals new aspects of them each time. Each collage holds as many stories as there are unique viewers and independent viewings. Each act of looking reveals something new – a new story, your story.
Maurice Merleau-Ponty argued that painting “gives visible existence to what profane vision believes to be invisible”. He examined space as which direct the painter/artist, as the viewer, back to themselves. I wish you will be able to think the same of my collage creations, as a ‘space’ that directs you to your inner self, reviling the wonder of the invisible.
As I mentioned before, I create these collages intuitively, without knowing the symbolism meaning of the images in them. Only afterwards do I research the symbolism, to better understand what my subconscious was attempting to reveal.
As they are rich in images and symbolism, I detailed only a few and in a partial manner, just to awaken your curiosity. In depth information about the symbols and their meanings can be found in various websites and in the “Book of Symbols”.
I arrived to art from the fields of Philosophy and Cultural Studies, starting my “artistic path” in Art Journaling – working in various creative techniques in a book/journal format. Of the various techniques available, I found myself returning, again and again, to creating collages.
I started with a single central image, yet the compositions continued to grow. Images and symbols manifested themselves: figures of people and animals – imagined creatures that conflated man and nature, the familiar and ‘the other’. The resulting collages were surreal, like day-dreams, in which I incorporate images/figures from the realm of classic art, printed periodicals, newspapers and documents from everyday life. The integration of animal images and meaningful symbols from various cultures provides added depth and additional layers to my work. The linkage and connection between the separate images in the process of forming a “dream story” are accomplished by numerous layers of acrylic paint, over which I superimpose scribbles and drawings, using acrylic markers.
The use of "readymade" and the various references to the great artists of history serves as a bridge to the past, while their re-contextualization in my collages makes them part of the present dreams along with a bridge to the future.
I never plan my collages ahead of time. That would be impossible. My work is wholly intuitive. Often, I feel like I've hit a dead end. Sometimes I get stuck in the initial stages of choosing a central figure needed for the beginning of ‘the journey’; other times, in the search for secondary figures to accompany him. When I come to these dead ends, it seems like the scraps of paper come together, of their own accord and autonomously, start their journey for meaning, along the expanse of white. The connection between the figures and the story, that wants to be told, isn't always clear to me, amongst the endless possibilities. It often feels like the collage will never come together – the feeling that something is missing, or out of place. That's when I begin to search for an element that will bind all the figures together. There were times that I, or rather the collage, asserted that a crocodile, or some other animal, should be added. The reason why, that animal came up, only became clear once the collage was complete.
It may seem like color and papers are the building blocks of a collage, but that isn't so. My collages are built slowly from the blocks of the soul – from the building materials of the Self – with layers and layers of color on top.
Many times, as I worked, I felt that I wasn’t working alone; it seems, without intending to, I make use of the collective unconscious and a deep base of collective knowledge that is far deeper than my personal knowledge. For this reason, I am of the opinion that my collages convey universal messages and create dream stories that “belong” to every person, as their own; and that it was not up to me, rather they have to be exposing to the world.
Looking at the works in different contexts – Different lighting, different times of day, from up close or afar – reveals new aspects of them each time. Each collage holds as many stories as there are unique viewers and independent viewings. Each act of looking reveals something new – a new story, your story.
Maurice Merleau-Ponty argued that painting “gives visible existence to what profane vision believes to be invisible”. He examined space as which direct the painter/artist, as the viewer, back to themselves. I wish you will be able to think the same of my collage creations, as a ‘space’ that directs you to your inner self, reviling the wonder of the invisible.
As I mentioned before, I create these collages intuitively, without knowing the symbolism meaning of the images in them. Only afterwards do I research the symbolism, to better understand what my subconscious was attempting to reveal.
As they are rich in images and symbolism, I detailed only a few and in a partial manner, just to awaken your curiosity. In depth information about the symbols and their meanings can be found in various websites and in the “Book of Symbols”.
As I originally created these collages only for my private use, I apologize in advance, if, without knowing, I made use of images that infringe on the creative rights of others. Please accept my apologies. I thank, in advance, to all those who can enlighten me, by providing complete citations, for any works lacking them, so I can update the information.
Thank you!
The name zizoomi is a combination of the two starting letters of my name, Ziva, with my wish for you and the world to zoom, focus at my work and see what’s in it. The suffix “i” is for the word "In", also with the intention of making "Zizoomi" into a name that I love.