Michael Robinson, Gleaner Writer

Bad Bul'l by Nosbourne Lee.

The kindred arts of collage and assemblage take the fore at Mutual Gallery in an exhibition titled, The Art of Assemblage and Collage. Aptly timed, the exhibition comes at a time when many of Jamaica's contemporary artists are experimenting with different materials and stepping outside the traditional 'pigeonholes' that have been used to describe the artistic disciplines.

Collage and assemblage are siblings in a way, both forms being artistic compositions derived from the combination of various materials. The difference between the two is supposed to be the two-dimensionality of collage versus the three-dimensionality of assemblage. However, the line between the two is purely subjective.

Phillip Tomlinson's 'Once In a Blue Moon Series I' consisting of a blue stone and a piece of sheet metal is labelled 'Collage'. Hope Brooks has a series of panels with objects from the sea - rocks and shells - affixed to a backing covered with handwriting. Brooks' piece is tagged 'Assemblage'.

Also known as 'found art', both forms of expression emerged in the early 20th century in the works of such notables as Picasso, Braque, Duchamp and Rauschenberg. Initially, collage was flat, consisting of pieces of paper, cloth, leaves and other flat materials so that the resulting piece was mostly two-dimensional. Assemblage was chunkier, with artists like Rauschenburg using tires, machine parts - anything he wanted to. The result was three-dimensional and utterly rebellious.

Globally, there has been a trend towards installations and mixed media pieces in the last 10 to 15 years. Galleries like Miami's Diaspora Vibe Gallery, run by Rosie Wallace, feature shows by artists-in-residence. Diaspora Vibe has a particular leaning toward installation artists. Wallace believes in the value of this kind of work and points to the obvious popularity of these exhibitions as proof.

Jamaica's current crop of artists, formerly known as painters, photographers and sculptors, seem bent on erasing the lines that have previously separated the disciplines. Petrona Morrison gives us 'Axis Ungrounded II', a photo collage. Morrison is better known for her monumental installation pieces. Keisha Castello, a graduate of Edna Manley College's painting department, is represented here by a 'mixed-media' piece, 'Too Far Removed (I-VIII)'. Nosbourne Lee, known for his welded pieces, presents 'Bad Bull', a mixed- media assemblage.

'Mixed media' is no longer a sufficient description for the works being produced. Viewers want to know more about the process and the materials involved. Both artists and audience have outgrown the simple terms traditionally used to describe these works of increasing substance and conceptual weight.

2D and 3D worlds

Wings of Freedom' by Mazola. - Photos by Michael Robinson

It is clear that over time, experimentation has brought the 2D and 3D worlds together. It is the nature and purpose of artists to explore and question. To delve and plumb internal depths. What is interesting is that they have all come - through vastly different avenues - to the same place. A place where assemblage and collage are the same. Where experimentation is a vehicle for self-discovery, not an anecdote. They have come to the place where art is art and the boundary is infinity.

We live in exciting times.