Article:

Collage als Pfropfung. Zur Ambivalenz des Bildes bei John Stezaker

The photocollages of John Stezaker pose eminent problems of image-theory. Their structural ambivalence is produced by the clash of two images in the continuum of one. In doing so they generate a plural picture combination, which questions the unity of the image and its limitations. The Heterogeneity of Stezakers collages is supported by the medial and aesthetic complexity of his source-material – mostly postcards, Filmstills and publicity-shots of actors and actresses long forgotten. Using the metaphor of the graft, which originates in writings of Jacques Derrida, an ambivalent term of image should be proposed, which focusses on differences, upheavals and the interconnections between the images