Monsieur Hulot - Collage and Cut Paper

I had a lot of fun creating this photo collage combined with some cut paper techniques. Both cut paper and collage were used heavily in dada and synthetic cubism. I have a special place place in my heart for dada and cubism, so I'm a big fan of photo collage. The technique for collage is pretty straight forward. It's essentially an assemblage of parts, combined to create a new image. In addition to photos, other items are have often been used, including newspaper clippings and other printed ephemera, wood, ribbon, and other found objects. These collages can also include paint and at times are even covered with varnish, causing them to almost feel as if they are painted on. I have a long list of favorite artists that have used collage and cut paper. Some of my very favorite are Kurt Schwitters, Saul Bass, and Alexander Rodchenko. For this image I used a photo taken by Life photographer Yale Joel in 1958 of French comedian and director Jacques Tati. The background and the rain drops are created by scanning in paper that I cut with safety scissors (intended to be used by ages three to five) and the line of the smoke and the type were drawn using a very soft 7B pencil. I really like how it all turned out.