Surreal Collage by Carrie Ann Baade

"It's about making the unreal real, making it believable for someone else."



Recently found the art of Carrie and was floored by the dreamy, fantasy world yet somewhat creepy (in a good way) quality of her works. They are incredible multi-layered tapestries of hallucinatory scenery. She has transcended the crafty image of collage and pushed it into the sphere of surrealist masterpieces.  Intrigued by her method and technique, I tried to do a little hunting to see what I could find out. Many artists are very secretive and downright shut mouthed about their techniques. Here is a little of what I found on her process.

"There are very real things that I am not aloud to speak of in polite society, the more I translate them into elaborate images to spell out my rage, my dissatisfaction, my pain, my secrets, and my loves which may also be secrets."
"I collect images, I dive into my piles of cut outs that I have been archiving for the past 5 years. The composition of the collage can be immediate or go through 15 hours of revisions. It is like reading cards, the answer will come as I am searching and the answer is usually visually surprising."
"Idea!, snip, cut, and collect - with lots of cello tape!, play and laugh at how funny images can be, revisions for 12 years, prepare copper, transfer image, paint in grisaille....totally tonal image with no chroma, paint in color, glaze and glaze, agonize, tell the painting it is the most beautiful thing that I have EVER created, frame, eject from studio to be hung in the gallery never to be seen again....next!"

Some added words of wisdom for the struggling artist out there...
"Pretend that each letter of rejection means you get to go out to dinner. I have decided that I will have an exhibit of all my letters of rejection as soon as I have enough to cover a gallery. I am only 1/3 of the way there. Beyond that, my credo is: IGNORANCE AND BALLZ! I say ignorance because I don't ask questions. Never ask why you are doing this. Never question your ability. Never wonder if you would be richer or happier doing something else. Ballz is the momentum to keep doing it despite impossible odds."

Sources and more info:

Beinart Surreal Art Collective -
http://beinart.org/modules/Word-Press/2007/06/12/beinart-interview-with-carrie-ann-baade/

Phantasasmaphile -
http://www.phantasmaphile.com/2006/09/interview_with_.html

My ArtSpace -
http://www.myartspace.com/blog/2006/11/art-space-talk-carrie-ann-baade_08.html