A Portfolio of Ten Collage Works by Berni Stephanus
When studying the figurative collage
art of Berni Stephanus I wonder why I feel that I get it. The tenuous,
fleeting relationships seen in the work seem almost past the breaking
point in
terms of their disjunction. There is the suggestion to look at these
works like
old master paintings since very often there are glossy reproductions of
masterworks
in the background or body parts of familiar paintings in the
constructed
figures.
However, the Cubist techniques used, of
shifts in
spatial scale
and angles of perspective, are often so exaggerated that perhaps too
much is
being expected of the viewer to make the leaps of understanding
required to
assimilate the image presented in these seemingly piecemeal
compositions. A pair
of lips
where an entire head should be, an amputated head with a gaping mouth
wrapped
around a woman’s posterior as if to be part of her beach clothing, an
arm protruding
from a hip, suspended belief is shaken. But still, we DO get it, the
parts have
an immediate recognition of gestalt that doesn't seem like it should be
there. We
are left wondering why.
The gestural, spontaneous quality of the
work
suggests that
these are perhaps studies for more finished works to be accomplished
later on
canvas giving a feeling of freedom of expression that many collage
artists seem to lose in the quest for a well crafted and finished
work. Thinking of
these as
preparatory works helps us to dismiss Stephanus’s casual, free wheeling
antics as
impulsive image hunting but still there is something more. They succeed
too
well far too often to be merely studies and experiments that might as
easily be
thrown out as kept.
Then I consider the precedents of film and I
recall movies
where close ups of lips or eyes, sounds, music, flashes of other
angles, other
moments in time, in rapid succession yield a similar wholeness but move
so
swiftly that you don't have time to consider it. Films move so fast and
continuously that they can't be studied. Yet, in the memory, there are
these raw
impressions fed to the mind that are converted into an experience.
That
is
what is found in Stephanus’s collages;
a series of focal impressions gathered together as our eye moves around
the compositions. This is what makes these works poetic, the
accumulation of focused experiences that gather in our mind as we read
the image. Stephanus clearly understands the unfoldment of the image in
the mind's eye. We gradually acquire the image through our
gaining an understanding of the relationships of the parts to one
another and to the whole.
His keen eye knows what we will read in the work like
Bach
knows the edges of what the listener will hear as order or chaos in his
fugues
and inventions. At times Stephanus's collages
are
deceptively simple like a Duchampian ready made. The elegance of design
in some
of the less complex works is captivating.
Stephanus doesn't spoon feed us the images
like
babies who
need predigested and highly refined mush. He offers raw experience
restated
like a clever insider joke in a conversation between old and
sophisticated friends.
This rawness is evidenced by Stephanus’s gestural style of scissor
snipped bits of
paper pasted
quickly into place to capture a fleeting insight.
The result is a delightful combination of
surprising and
often challenging compositions that exude confidence, a fine sense of
humor and
a love for a dada-like irreverent and open eyed exploration and
commentary on daily
life in the modern world.
It is with great pleasure that we present
this
portfolio of
ten works generously donated by the artist to the collage
museum.
Three of Berni's images were
used as illustrations in a Swiss newspaper in 2009
one
two
three
Berni Stephanus
web site
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