BOP! It’s the title of the show and a word on loan from the lexicon of Jazz—a staccato double time rhythm with complex progressions and improvisations. In this next iteration of BOP!, the call is for pieces that expand on the definition of collage while narrowing the focus to a visual push-pull that immerses viewers in the rhythm of the artform. BOP! artists are asked to engage with the medium in an approach steeped in other American artforms. Mainly Jazz, Rock ‘n’ roll, modern dance and film.

Collage has a diverse vocabulary and history, along with a creative inquiry on an international scale, explored by artists and viewers in large numbers. At the core of the beat is a global community of artists with a passion for sharing, discussing and transforming collage. While artist collectives, individuals, festivals and institutions are all craving something beyond the historical understanding of the artform. From this current status, it is clear that the medium is a message of community, collaboration and chromatic collisions.

In 2019, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh presented a survey of 400 years of collage. Within it were 250 works of art from a show entitled Cut and Paste. Without surprise, it included Braque, Picasso, Hoch, Schwitters and Ernst, as well as post-war Matisse, Rauschenberg et al. While a survey of this sort was the first, and from an educational perspective necessary, it has the world wondering, what’s next? And even more importantly, who?  

BOP! will show us the collage masterworks of those cutting and sticking with verve.