Erró's 50 Years of Collage at Centre Pompidou
Between February 17 and May 24, 2010, the Centre Pompidou in Paris hosted "Erró. 50 ans de collages," celebrating the Icelandic artist's collage creations spanning fifty years. Erró began crafting small collages from magazine cutouts in the late 1950s, drawing inspiration from Dadaist figures such as Raoul Hausmann and Hannah Höch. His work critiques capitalist culture through themes of mechanization, utilizing symbols like eyes and hands, and he favors "mécamorphose" over traditional metamorphosis. The exhibition presents images as interchangeable, contrasting figures such as Lenin with Botticelli's Venuses and a Chinese soldier in an American restroom. Later pieces incorporate vibrant comic-book storytelling, culminating in "Viva la Revolucion" (2000), which pairs a collage with its painted version.
Key facts
- Exhibition at Centre Pompidou, Paris, from February 17 to May 24, 2010.
- Covers over 50 years of Erró's collage work.
- Erró began making small-format collages in the late 1950s using magazine images.
- Early works show Dadaist influence from Raoul Hausmann and Hannah Höch.
- Erró uses irony to critique capitalist mechanization.
- Motifs include eyes and hands, referencing Surrealism but with 'mécamorphose'.
- Collages juxtapose heterogeneous elements like Lenin, Botticelli's Venus, and Hitler.
- Exhibition ends with a comparison of collage and painting 'Viva la Revolucion' (2000).
Entities
Artists
- Erró
- Raoul Hausmann
- Hannah Höch
- André Breton
- Botticelli
- Ingres
- Cranach
- Marlene Dietrich
- Boucher
Institutions
- Centre Pompidou
Locations
- Paris
- France
Sources
- artpress —