by David Turner

         In the 1960's campus life was filled with the excitement and energy of anti-war and
         social justice protest. Off the pig! was a popular slogan against perceived
         government and police oppression. Off the Rectangle! may not serve as a call to
         arms for social revolution, but it does draw attention to the artificial and
         unnecessary restrictions collagists allow painting to impose on our work. Collage
         is an independent craft and art medium and, like painting, depends on no other for
         identity or validation. Yet much of what today is produced as "collage" so
         conforms to the rules of painting as to completely miss the unique point and
         potential of our own medium.

         Painting typically begins with paint, canvas and stretchers. This pre-defines the
         final surface and boundaries of the resultant image. For painting the final image is
         almost always a relatively flat surface confined to a tradition-determined
         symmetrical outline. Collage, by contrast, begins with pre-existing objects, such as
         paper, wood and metal, all with inherent texture and three-dimensionality. The
         collagist combines and relates these irregularly shaped materials to form an
         internally harmonious image. There is neither canvas nor stretcher to pre-define or
         restrict the outline of the emerging image. Only the irregularity of an image
         consisting of its internally related visual and spatial elements. This is the natural
         process of a collage creation process allowed to take its own unfettered and
         non-predefined course. Irregularity and three-dimensionality inhere to the medium.
         Why then restrict the collage image to the artificial limitations of another art
         medium?

         Culture is by nature tradition-bound and conservative. Change is difficult because it
         demands artist and audience surrender the comfort of the known for the insecurity
         of the unfamiliar. Collage has the potential to revolutionize the visual arts. But only
         if the artist abandons the comfort of the flat surface and regular outline inherited
         from traditional painting.   By clinging to the familiar the artist fails to appreciate
         the full potential of the medium, and condemns Collage to perpetual dependence on
         Painting for identity, and for validation.

         To all who love and work in the medium, let collage spread its wings. Off the
         Rectangle!