John stezaker

A collection of ‘new collagists’ contains some brilliant work, but lacks in the qualities that make for a great book…

John Stezaker

John Stezaker | http://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/john_stezaker.htm

The pleasure of looking at John Stezaker's work is the shiver of seeing something banal made strange. Studio shots of long-dead actors and hand tinted postcards of waterfalls and landscapes are hackneyed and banal. But when Stezaker lays one of these tired images on top of another, or just slices or folds into a photograph, a strange alchemy takes place. Jolted, we see both the material reality of the photo - look it's been chopped up! while still being seduced by the tidal pull of its…

Mask CCV by John Stezaker

John Stezaker’s surreal, handmade collages—comprised of film stills, publicity portraits, and postcards collected from thrift stores and bookshops—are masterful studies in contradiction. They are familiar and nostalgic, but also unexpected and strange. Like a Coen Brothers film or Flannery O’Connor short story, they walk that compelling line between comedy and tragedy.

John Stezaker appropriates images found in books, magazines and postcards, using them as readymades which he subjects to deceptively simple alterations. Splicing, cutting and pasting the printed ephemera he collects, Stezaker explores the collective memory of twentieth century popular culture and the subtle tensions and passions of interpersonal relations. From still surfaces he opens up psychological chasms.Producing his work alongside a long career teaching critical studies at the Royal…

John Stezaker

#2014

John Stezaker aka John Grenville Stezaker (British, b. 1949, Worcester, England) - 1: Imposter III, 2013 2: Double Shadow XXXVIII, 2015 3: Siren Song V, 2012 4: Double Shadow II, 2014 5: ...