Real Gold 1949

Eduardo Paolozzi made this collage, "Real Gold", in 1949 from cut and pasted printed paper. It's got this whole mid-century vibe going on, you know? I can almost feel Paolozzi there, scissors in hand, sifting through magazines, snipping out bits and pieces, and arranging them just so on the page. What was he thinking, what was he trying to say with these images? There's a woman's face, a car, a can of orange juice, a maid holding a cleaning brush and so on. It’s like he’s playing with the dreams and desires of the time. There is a flow of association and influence between different artists’ work. Paolozzi's collage reminds me of artists like Hannah Höch and Kurt Schwitters who were doing similar things with collage in the early 20th century. It is an ongoing conversation and exchange of ideas across time, inspiring one another’s creativity. It’s a reminder that art is always in dialogue with what came before.