Pablo von Lichtenberg

Artist Statement

Collage and assemblage are not new mediums.  Ever since Picasso first glued a commercially produced oil cloth to his 1912 painting “Still life with Chair Caning”, collage has been a viable and intricate part of modern art.  As the forerunner to assemblage, this technique of cutting natural or manufactured materials and pasting them onto canvas has radically escaped the confines of traditional art surfaces and flourishes in a style of work unto its own.

In my works, which I call RASA,  I have chosen to concentrate on incorporating the elements of collage and the freedom of assemblage with my own expression of creativity.  I’ve elected to substitute the conventional paint brush and canvas for the structural diversity of various found objects, normally viewed as trash, to create an organized and aesthetically pleasing combination of parts.   This so-called combination affords the viewer the opportunity to see discarded  elements in a new light, and no longer only as an item which has been massed produced, consumed and then discarded-

The “hyper -consume” environment which we’ve created tends to leave a horrifying trail of refuse and wastes laying thoughtlessly throughout the streets of our cities. As an assemblage artist, I try to see artistic quality of the shape , structure or design of an element and visualize its placement as a part of a whole By combining each segment with another element of like or contrasting qualities, I hope to energize the surfaces and offer the beholder an interesting and fulfilling moment in personal observation.

I am often asked if every piece has a meaning or an individual message.  No; I don’t try to say something with each specific RASA, but I would like its viewer to search for his or her own interpretation or to capture an emotion which passes through the soul as they encounter my works.

Recently, I have begun a new body of works, which I refer to as RASA: minimal. Although I remain true to the original concept and mindset of RASA: pure, the RASA:minimal offer a deeper sense of freedom in form and combination. The objects used are left as minimally altered as possible to enhance the overall affect of the end result.  This minimalist approach to presenting the items with as little change as possible, creates an environment where the viewer must really search to find the aesthetic value of each object and its juxtaposition within the whole.