“What I fear most, I think, is the death of the imagination. When the sky outside is merely pink, and the rooftops merely black: that photographic mind which paradoxically tells the truth, but the worthless truth, about the world. It is that synthesizing spirit, that "shaping" force, which prolifically sprouts and makes up its own worlds with more inventiveness than God which I desire. If I sit still and don't do anything, the world goes on beating like a slack drum, without meaning. We must be moving, working, making dreams to run toward; the poverty of life without dreams is too horrible to imagine.”
― Sylvia Plath
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A recurring medium that Matt returns to for his book covers is collage, often an appropriate style due to the distinctive relationship between images, forms and letters that collage can visually afford. “Collage has become one of my shorthands for pairing themes and ideas together that aren’t so readily represented in nature or culture.” If the latter is well focused, then the ideas behind the cover can be quickly and effectively iterated upon. “That’s invaluable for a guy like me who is trying to maximize as many minutes as they can experimenting and making mistakes on purpose.” Beyond that, collage is an accessible form in which an audience can clearly see the divergence between things. “Historically, collage has been an effective blunt-force tool for taking two (or more) very different things,” Matt explains, “and gives readers a visual prompt to re-evaluate anything that might be overly familiar.” - “Do anything except what’s right in front of you”: Matt Dorfman on designing book covers - via It’s Nice That
Beneath the Surface, a collage exhibition by Ayhuma Amazona
Creative director David Lane and printmaker Kate Gibb reveal how they transformed more than 100 photos from McCartney’s personal archive into an evocative collage. - Inside Paul McCartney’s The Boys of Dungeon Lane artwork - via Creative Review
“Cane’s Anthem is a vibrant mixed-media collage that was born from admiration and respect for my friend Todd Graves the Owner and Founder of Raising Cane’s,” said Adrien Brody (read: his publicist) in a statement. “Layered with found wheat-paste fragments, torn advertisements, and weathered street ephemera that I have gathered throughout New York City along with the playbill from my Broadway debut in The Fear of 13”—Brody’s show, The Fear of 13, is about a wrongfully convicted inmate on death row, so naturally that would fit into the tableau of chicken-tender history—“the work echoes the grit, perseverance, and entrepreneurial spirit that defines Graves’s journey, the spirit of NYC and an urban aesthetic that has always spoken to me growing up here.” Upon closer look, the mural features torn pages of Graves’s Forbes cover shoot, labradors, Yankees logos, and a shit ton of litter (i.e., “weathered street ephemera”). He nailed the assignment, if the assignment was covering up a blank wall with junk. - Checking In on Adrien Brody’s Art Career - via Jezebel
Self-portraiture has long been associated with the promise that an image might offer insight into the person before the camera. Yet this body of work begins with the opposite premise: that the self can never be fully known, fixed, or represented. Through acts of collage, rupture, layering, and concealment, the Solomonova dismantles the traditional portrait, transforming it into a site of inquiry. - Alena Solomonova: Self Incomplete - via Lens Scratch
L’exposition propose un cheminement à travers les grandes étapes du parcours créatif de cet artiste inclassable. Elle s’ouvre sur un choix d’œuvres illustrant son intérêt pour le rêve, le surréalisme et les effets des drogues sur l’esprit. L’exposition se poursuit en montrant l’impact qu’ont eu sur lui les principaux lieux de ses voyages à travers le monde. Elle aborde ensuite les différentes facettes de son processus créatif : le Cut-up et les permutations ; le dessin, l’écriture et la calligraphie ; l’aventure de la Dreamachine ; les différentes formes du jeu et de la performance ; ses incursions dans les territoires de la magie et l’effet proprement ensorcelant qu’il a eu sur ses contemporains ; enfin l’utilisation de la photographie comme signe de son rapport à la réalité et du photomontage comme révélateur de sa présence au monde. - Brion Gysin at Musées d’Art Moderne de Paris
A selection of challenge submissions from last week is up on our website and can be seen here, the image prompt for next week is available to download here
Our 2026 Workbook is out and available for sale on our website. Our weekly creative challenge remains free and open to everyone and everything, digital or analog artists, French or not. The workbook is an optional add-on for those who prefer to work with paper and don’t want to print our images themselves. Like every year, the book is designed so that you can either take it apart or create your collages in the book itself. Week numbers and image sources are on the back of each image, so even if your books falls apart at one point, you will always know what’s what!
If you have any news about exhibitions, publications or events you want so share with the community, please send an email with all relevant information and at least one link to a website or venue to: hello@pariscollagecollective.com
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