Like other artists of his time, Mantegna experimented with perspective – for example, by lowering the horizon to heighten the effect of monumentality. His figures, often appearing as though made of stone, highlight his fundamentally sculptural approach. Such is also the case in the reproduction in question: the procession marches right on the lower border of the canvas, enhancing the illusion that it is doing so here, in our own world; a triumphal march on an endless stage.
In the unique dialogue in which she engages, Amizur articulates a new hybrid language, one between painting and collage. This choice is founded on a variety of artistic traditions – from the later work of Henri Matisse to Richard Diebenkorn. At the same time, she draws inspiration from quilting and textile techniques. She does not hide the process of making the work: Thousands of tiny holes in the pieces of paper that make up the collages attest to the changes they underwent in the creative process – a kind of map documenting the movement of her hands as they created and changed, in their attempt to cast an anchor. In that process, the papers – cut into shapes of various sizes – are placed on top of each other, attached to the surface with hundreds of pins before being glued to it. Unlike the modernist collage, which is usually made of newspaper clippings, photographs and more, the raw material in Amizur’s works is simple white paper, uniformly painted in flat industrial paints of custom hues made to Amizur’s specifications. These simple pieces of papers serve as the basis for diverse complex operations and surprising encounters.
The works were inspired by a black-and-white reproduction, yet are striking for their vivid, vigorous colors. This may seem odd, at first, as Amizur has never seen the colorful original, but perhaps that is precisely what allowed her to disengage from it with relative ease and assert the freedom to produce such original and intense color combinations. Her cut-up pieces of papers are like continents floating tectonically on a flat earth, and the result is a spectacular sight, whose simplicity arises from masterful craftsmanship.
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