Collage...why, how?

Collage sur carte ancienne d’Égypte

This adventure with collage began a long time ago when I was moving into a new place to live. It started with the need to hide damaged walls.

For this purpose, I designed screens made with wooden panels covered with collages of musical scores, old nautical charts, and found books.

I applied this technique to old furniture to inhabit this space.

This passion has led to special orders and regular sales.

Paravent Collage de partitions sur panneau de bois

My penchant for collage has fueled an eclectic collection of old papers: old books with varied handwriting, engravings, and notarial acts. When I refused the idea of cutting or tearing these originals, I made copies of them, which I then painstakingly aged using "rotten earth" or pigments.

I became engrossed in the game of these random compositions, and in the magic when an unexpected assemblage emerges that touches me.

Set. Collage sur médium

At that time, only utilitarian objects held my attention. I started with collages on wooden supports; trays, placemats, small pieces of furniture, stools, tables, etc... I also explored collage on glass and ceramics, a more delicate and demanding technique due to the complexity of the final varnishing.

Collage Madeleine Carrousel

Today, my return to this medium is marked by a transformation: my works are now resolutely artistic, far removed from any utilitarian aim.

They explore the infinite possibilities of assembling images and all those fragments of paper that I have accumulated over time.

The composition of these elements is the culmination of a meditative process and careful observation. It is a constant search: collecting, cutting, tearing, folding, and finally assembling.

While inspiration sometimes strikes immediately, the construction of the image is most often a deep reflection aimed at bringing forth a visual narrative that deeply touches me.

It is the pleasure of inventing new stories from elements of different eras and materials that drives me: old postcards (carrying stories and a notion of travel), old engravings, pages from old books, fragments of magazines… I hope that these collages will appeal to you.