1) Deconstruct your Perception
Let's start with perception.
I try to give a description of what is around me right now. I start with the blanket I am lying under, the pink couch I am lying on, my smartphone next to me, also a book by Artaud (The theatre and its double). Inside the book, a piece of paper that I cut out and used as a bookmark can be found between pages 72 and 73. Strangely enough, the reading tape got stuck between pages 38 and 39. On my left, a bookshelf that takes up the height of the room and is more than four meters long. Inside it a huge number of books (I am much too lacy to count), small vases and other objects, for example an old Rolleiflex surveillance camera, used as bookends. In front of my door, a lamp, a dog pillow, another small bookshelf made of metal bars, placed between the brick chimney line and the sliding door that leads to the dining room. I will stop at this point. If I tried to list and describe everything here in detail, it would take hours and days and months and certainly thousands of pages. Although everything is pretty much in order, the stream of shapes, colors, movements, condensed into objects, meanings, memories, is too powerful and would immediately overwhelm me if I did not automatically make a selection.
This is what we do continuously from early childhood until today; we make selections, which means deconstructing and reconstructing what is around us to produce what we call reality. This happens at every moment. It is the basis of any profession.
We, in the field of creativity, do it in a special way. Understanding how on both levels, practical and theoretical, is the goal of this lecture.
Your assignment:
Take some early drawings of yourself (the earlier the better), at least six drawings, redraw them quickly with thin black lines (best with a black fineliner or ballpoint pen). Redraw again. You will need at least three different copies of each original drawing.
Cut up the re-drawings (artistically deconstruct the deconstructions that result from your perception). There is no rule for this, except that the parts should not be too small.
Start recombining the pieces. Make at least four collages (in A4 or A3 format, as you prefer). The reference for your work is the how (to do it) to achieve a lasting aesthetic quality.
Now you can add pencils, paint, or other collage elements - but you do not have to.
When you are finished, save your results.
The following is an example of how to do a redraw (your assignment is to do this six times, so you will end up with six compositions):
