The 'collage' or return to work with your hands against the tsunami of AI

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“Return to working with your hands against the tsunami of artificial intelligence”.

This is the mantra that runs through

.

The book brings together 32

selected by Gil, one of the most important graphic designers in Spain.

They are compositions of fragments that cover a part of the history of design and that, when reviewed, take on a new meaning.

He calls it “the aura”, paraphrasing Walter Benjamin.

“The philosopher said that the work of art had lost its aura through the means of mechanical reproduction”, he explains to me.

“The

is the way back.

When I use fragments from a magazine from the sixties they are just that, clippings from a magazine, but when I include them in a work, they recover their aura”.

One of the 'collages' from Emilio Gil's book.EMILIO GIL

at a newsstand in Puerta de Alcalá in Madrid.

At his house, she made a selection: he cut out the headlines, logos, typographical blocks or compositions that seemed most interesting to him and kept them in a catchall.

That's where his

which he pasted on cardboard.

Emilio Gil is not the only creator who currently claims and defends a centuries-old technique that Picasso and Braque have already used.

There is a resurgence of

especially in the media.

Patricia Bolinches and Sr. García, two artists whose works often illustrate articles and reports in EL PAÍS, confirm this trend.

“In recent years, there has been a resurgence in popularity, not only in the press, but also in advertising and video clips,” explains Bolinches.

“It is a very versatile technique.

It can be used in a wide variety of styles and subjects, from the abstract to the figurative, so it gives a lot of play and makes it a very attractive technique for artists and viewers alike.”

Mr. García acknowledges that even "the media design teams themselves are beginning to handle the technique internally."

'Collage' for the article 'Why do we hurt each other?', by David Dorenbaun, published in October 2022 in 'El País Semanal'.Mr.

Garcia

Collage

, the three designers agree, has returned after a clear hegemony of illustration, which was later superseded by photography, in the most strictly editorial sense

Patricia Bolinches looks back and in a brief historical review recalls other pioneers such as the Dada movement, which "used collage

a way of subverting and challenging the culture and society of the time, Kurt Schwitters and Hannah Höch are great referents”.

She also mentions the Bauhaus and later Pop Art.

'Collage 15', from the book by Gil.emilio gil

Emilio Gil remembers the cover of

The Beatles'

.

And he repeats a name: that of the painter David Hockney, from whom he has borrowed one of his quotes to title his book.

“Consider the

as a great invention of the 20th century with a deep meaning: 'It consists of placing one layer of time on top of another'.

Those layers also appear in the work of Mr. Garcia.

You have to stop for a while not only to read an article in EL PAÍS, but also the meanings of his works and thus discover “certain doses of irony”.

Bolinches assures that she feels "more comfortable with conceptual, clear and direct images to capture the viewer's attention and leave the message clear", but she acknowledges that "making illustrations with many details is like telling a story and the viewer discovers every detail".

Or each layer.

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