DRB 1: Modern retro collage and Christiana Coucerio

A collage by Julien Picaud, showing two children holding rifles. This collage is very powerful, and I interpret its message to be about gun control, and how guns are sometimes seen as toys, and not deadly weapons.

Modern retro collages are contemporary collages which use imagery that is vintage, or vintage-inspired. The results are often strange and unusual, creating a new meaning by taking multiple images and altering them into a new one.

Retro collages can be made by hand, digitally, or by using a mixture of both methods. They are modern as they use new techniques and technology to create collages that appear to be retro inspired.

 

A collage made by Christiana Couceiro which shows a tank.

Christiana Couceiro is a Portuguese artist who makes modern retro collages. Here is some of her work above. In her work, she uses colours such as blue, yellow and green against a pale off-white background. In this collage, she places a tank in the centre of the frame, and has made it black and white. She has then used lots of colourful squares to pixel out the edges around the tank. She uses a lot of shapes – like squares and circles, which add fun and excitement into her work.

Another design by Christiana Couceiro

In this collage, there are lots of shapes overlapping. Lots of layers can add depth and can look really interesting. Here, Christiana Couceiro has used blue and red to create strong contrast, as they are opposites.

She sometimes uses type in her work too. Here, it looks like she has written the type herself as it is messy and looked scrawled on. She has also repeated the type over and over to create repetition. Her collages are sometimes a bit chaotic and messy, which help them to not feel too perfected and more expressive.

A magazine cover designed by Christiana Couceiro

In this magazine cover made by Christiana Couciero, she has used negative space to create the illusion of a house. She has done this by cutting the shape out of the red area. She has then added some images of trees and such to make the cover look more like a suburban street. She also used an actual photo of a house, but left the rest silhouetted and not as detailed, as her work is minimalistic.

 

My first design in the style of Christiana Couceiro. This is a design for the footballer Eusebio.

I have made my own collages in the style of Christiana Couceiro. This one is about a Portuguese footballer called Eusebio. I used shapes to form an abstract Portuguese flag in the background, and cut out an image of Eusebio mid-kick. I chose this image because it was dynamic and lead the eye horizontally. I copied it three times and made each one slightly more desaturated. I also made the images get larger as they went across because it added variety.

my second collage. I have made a collage which shows Chelsea winning the 2021 Champions League

I designed another football based collage. I wanted to capture the moment that Chelsea won the Champions League in 2021. I used a black and white photo of the whole team celebrating, with blue diagonal lines behind them. I used the diagonal lines to fill the space and to add a pop of colour. Blue is also the team colour for Chelsea, which is why I used blue lines. Because N’Golo Kante was the man of the match, I placed another image of him. I made this image colourised to create a point of interest and to make hierarchy and importance.

My third collage. I was inspired by a news article about the cost of living

I made this collage after seeing a news article by the Huffington Post called ‘Here’s how much your food bill has gone up (again)’ (Nicholson, 2022). It is about the cost of living crisis affecting the cost of food shopping.

I made an abstract geometric shape leading the eye to a point. I made the shape green because green is associated with money. At the top of the point, I used an image of some shopping bags to relate to the content of the article. I also added some red arrows pointing up, to indicate rising costs and to add contrast to the green shape.

This collage was more minimalistic and serious to match the content of the article, compared to my other two collages which are more fun and about entertainment.

My last collage inspired by the 2019 movie ‘Joker’.

My last poster is inspired by the ‘Joker’ movie. I started off by using an image from an important part of the film, of the Joker and his followers. I placed this at the bottom and manipulated it to be one solid colour for contrast. I then used a photo from another iconic part of the movie, where the Joker is dancing manically. I then created some lines and squares to add structure. I chose to use colours from the Jokers suit and face paint, linking to the movie more.
For this collage, I wanted to try a new composition and used line to format my elements and to lead the eye around the frame.

 

references:

Chelsea FC (2021) Chelsea Win The Champions League [image] available online: https://www.chelseafc.com/en/video/-the-purest-joy—–chelsea-win-the-2021-champions-league-final–8chl24gy [accessed 12.02.2023]

Couceiro, Christiana (ND) ACLU Magazine [image] available online: https://cristianacouceiro.com [accessed 15.02.2023]

 

Couceiro, Christiana (ND) Heist King [image] available online: https://cristianacouceiro.com [accessed 15.02.2023]

 

Unknown (ND) Eusebio [image] available online: https://pin.it/5SPhGMU [accessed 12.02.2023]

 

Couceiro, Christiana (ND) tank collage [image] Available online: https://cristianacouceiro.com [accessed 15.02.2023]

 

Getty images (2021) N’golo Kante celebrating Chelsea’s win [image] available online: https://idsb.tmgrup.com.tr/ly/uploads/images/2021/06/07/120035.jpg [accessed: 12.02.2023]


Getty Images (ND) Tesco bags [image] Available online: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/balenciaga-shopper-bag-tesco-carrier-b2039947.html [accessed 12.02.2023]

Nicholson, Kate (2022) Here’s how much your food bill is going up (again) [article] available online: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/how-much-has-food-bill-gone-up-by-inflation_uk_6385f4c3e4b082d8e6d4d5a8 [accessed 12.02.2023]

Phillips, Todd (2019) Joker crowd scene [image] available online: https://pin.it/7w3W1iz [accessed 12.02.2023]

 

Phillips, Todd (2019) Joker Stairs Dancing Scene [image] available online: https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjIj8DWqZj9AhVOXMAKHZcdD80QwqsBegQIEBAF&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DTl5zk46i0Bs&usg=AOvVaw3e4TOneN3S57-QgGxujeSr [accessed 12.02.2023]


Picaud, Julien (ND) Children holding guns [image] available online: https://pin.it/5MgEFEu [accessed: 15.02.2023]