I create collages and collage-paintings which respond to the mass of images we are presented with every day, and the need to cut down these images to focus on the unseen parts that are obscured by everything else. My collages recontextualise to create less, as well as new associations and meanings. I am interested in dreams, the subconscious, surreal and semi-abstract approaches to collage, memory, and obscuring as a way of seeing. I am interested in the tiny elements that go unseen, and what they can mean when they are presented alone. The obliterated blue or white suggests forgetting or detachment. Or in a positive way, the remembering of small significant details.

As well as more traditional techniques, I use opaque paint as a collage medium. I use the opaque paint to “cut out” elements of interest. This work follows on from an exploration of lyrical abstract painting as well as an experimental collage practice. I work intuitively with the expressive qualities of the liquid medium and its flow. The use of ultramarine blue responds to my emotional connection to this colour, and to its sea associations. Like a beachcomber, the sea of blue provides me with the images if I just pick them up.

enquiries: sarah_elhay@yahoo.com.au