Three Collages by Bill Wolak

Editor’s note: Here are three collage works from previous contributor Bill Wolak. We appreciate how Bill’s titles combine concrete details and abstraction, so that the associated collages hover in the imagination with the language, even when we aren’t looking at either. And when we return to the images, we see new elements that revise and extend our imagination. This particular set gives us three material approaches that look forward and back from different moments in art history. We have traditional collage with Victorian flair, nods to cubism and surrealism, steampunk visions plucked from an inventor’s cabinet.

Statement from Bill: I make collages out of all kinds of materials. Most are made out of paper engravings. Many collages are digitally generated or enhanced. To begin a piece, I select some sources—either color or black and white. If I’m using magazines or prints or old books, I cut out some images or parts of images that interest me. Then I start working on a background or some other sort of chance construction. Much is left to fleeting insights. These are tiny miracles of inspiration. Depending on whether I’m using scissors and glue or digital images, each collage could take several hours. Sometimes it takes several days or even weeks to know if a collage is finished. Much depends on the kind of collage and the size.

Defiant as Revenge

Bill Wolak has published his eighteenth book of poetry entitled All the Wind’s Unfinished Kisses with Ekstasis Editions. His collages and photographs have appeared as cover art for such magazines as Phoebe, The Passionfruit Review, Inside Voice, and Barfly Poetry Magazine.