Bottle, glass, violin 1912

Picasso made this collage, 'Bottle, glass, violin', by pasting printed paper onto canvas to conjure up a scene. It's a playful take on still life, breaking down forms and reassembling them, not too dissimilar from my own process of layering and reworking. Look at the newspaper fragments. The texture and the faded print create a sense of depth, with the bold typeface of 'Journal' acting as a focal point. The violin is pieced together with lines and shapes, like a puzzle or a diagram. See that bold, red passage? It's a splash of pure colour that really sings out amid the monochrome. For me, this work is less about the objects themselves and more about Picasso's way of seeing. It reminds me a little of Kurt Schwitters, in the way he built up his Merz collages. Both artists were using found materials to create something new and exciting, turning the everyday into the extraordinary. There is always newness to be found in collage.