Russian Constructivism and Collage

Reflecting on more traditional techniques for creating graphic art, Russian Constructivism overlaps somewhat with collage, as they seem to result in a similar independence of shapes and colors. With Constructivism, as with collage, each element can only be deliberately placed, as they’re individual objects being brought together to form a cohesive image. Their marked differences come to bear in just how deliberate they are. In most cases, collage as a technique is an art form in itself, but with Constructivism, the process isn’t nearly as important as the finished product.

Collage incorporates not only shapes which can be difficult to form in the first place, whether by scissors or knife, and colors which are often already applied. Collage can be a more casual form of art-making, in which the process and its rough edges can be just as valuable as the finished piece. In some cases, adding to the collage, taking from it, and generally treating it like a boon by nature of being a collage can very much play to the medium’s strengths, especially in its potential to serve in performance art or multimedia experimentation.

Constructivism breaks apart the pieces of art into digestible chunks, then distributes them in an orderly fashion, chiefly for the purpose of design. It is, in a sense, a collectivist thought process brought almost certainly on by the rise of Communism in its home country, and the general desire to see new, more efficient modes of expression be made available.