Exhibition Review: Steve Wilson Collages
© Steve Wilson
Written by Katie Grierson
Edited by Hillary Mitchell
Left untitled, Steve Wilson’s collages were originally meant for his closest companions, and looking at his work feels like spying. The collages are built from love letters, magazine clippings, scribbled drawings that are layered, cut up, glued, and transformed into cards and postcards, with a message and person in mind. Space and color are very present in his work: a red car against a black-and-white industrial worksite, a man and a woman separated by yellow-orange thickness, a Texaco sign in the night, cut up and reassembled, and a piece of darkness hanging at the bottom of the card. “Love you. Busy day tomorrow,” he writes at the end of one. While this letter is the only one visible in the gallery, it’s noted that each collage acts as the face of a card or postcard, and that inside or on verso are his writings. To friends, to his partner, about his day, his work, anything, everything. His love for life and the people in it have been immortalized through his work.
© Steve Wilson
Wilson’s collages that contain his own drawings are especially intriguing. Wilson’s vision and artistry feel especially present in these pieces. In one untitled piece from October 2003, a ballet dancer’s body disappears behind white pen marks that follow her frame and extend past her arm. These pen marks resemble scratches, creating lines that once didn’t exist and setting new trails for our eyes to follow. But these lines are just one aspect of the image–The dark background clashes perfectly with his imposed lines, ensuring our focus doesn’t falter from where he wants it to go, while the patches of red and white paper develop a flow bringing our eyes around the image and back to the obscured dancer. Wilson displays a masterful intuition for how to introduce enough elements to craft a compelling image. His untitled work from October of 2005 succeeds similarly; the addition of red coloring and yellow paper diffuses the monotony of black and white, and his use of space at the bottom of the collage allows the overlaid photos to not become overwhelming. His writing works alongside circles, squares, and straight lines to focus our attention on the figures and manufacture a sense of unity between the clippings. He takes a bit of everything and makes it beautiful.
© Steve Wilson
Wilson’s collages are poetic. Delicate, small moments stitched alongside each other with a specific attention to contrast. Looking at his handmade cards, one can feel that this is art fueled simply by Wilson’s desire to make it. This truth is present throughout his collages. There’s no agenda or message, just what is playful, enchanting. Knowing that inside these gently frayed cards are love poems or notes to friends evokes a certain type of wonder. In our society that has so much focus on material gain, Wilson reminds us of a time of honest art, of sitting down at your kitchen table to make a collage for your friend. He writes, “Good morning dear. It’s just the same old me communicating with you here.”
