CHIAOZZA on Collage
Take a closer look at the making of CHIAOZZA: New Collage Works with Adam Frezza and Terri Chiao of CHIAOZZA.
Their process begins with painting and drawing on dozens of sheets of mixed-media paper using acrylic gouache. Occasionally, their daughter Tove joins in. These painted sheets are then cut and torn into shapes, which become the foundational elements of each finished collage. Working on multiple pieces simultaneously, the artists spread out blank sheets of paper, testing out different arrangements by placing, dropping, shifting, and rotating the colorful fragments until they arrive at a configuration that captures the desired energy and form.
To make the material, we lay out several large sheets of paper and paint the sheets different colors. When they’re dry, we go around and make marks on the paper with different tools: paint, pencil, crayon, tempera sticks, spray bottles, and more. Sometimes the messier the marks the better, as it makes for richer material.
Adam Frezza & Terri Chiao (CHIAOZZA)
Loosely inspired by the collaborative surrealist drawing game, Exquisite Corpse, where multiple participants contribute to a single composition in alternating turns (often without seeing the full work until it's complete), the Exquisite Plant series is grown from the same approach. Fantastical flora emerge from this generative process, morphing and mutating into novel configurations that underscore the exploratory and experimental nature of their practice.
Taken a step further with their Torn Paper Collage series, the artists embrace looser forms that accentuate the materiality of paper itself. Hand-deckled edges are left intact, adding movement and rhythm to these nature-inspired works and reinforcing their tactile, organic qualities.
The process of making the collages begins with laying out blank sheets of paper on tables. We then both go around and cut or rip arcs, squiggles, and other shapes out of the material we’ve prepared and drop them onto the base paper, somewhat haphazardly at first. As we work, we continue to refine the collection of shapes on the paper, and begin to play at line-making, color combinations, composition, etc, by moving the paper around together and separately. Finally, when we’ve decided they’re ready, we’ll adhere the paper pieces down in place to complete the work.
Adam Frezza & Terri Chiao (CHIAOZZA)
In their Meander Collage series, segments of cut painted paper pieced end to end form a continuous winding line that reminds us of the diverse moments and unexpected paths that compose a life. Squiggles, wiggles, arcs, and bends meander across the paper, echoing the trail of a speculative thought, the shape of a brain fold, the course of a tangle, or the trajectory of a walk.
Across these three series, CHIAOZZA’s works originate from a desire to continually re-examine our world, building an optimistic landscape of fiction and reality. Their collages are approached with an elemental directness, always searching for alternate modes of perception and ways of looking at the things we think we know. An exercise in physical and mental elasticity, CHIAOZZA’s work encourages imaginations to grow through open-ended play, exploration, and experimentation, illuminating the most essential qualities of the human spirit.
