"Everything tends to make us believe that there exists a certain point of the mind at which life and death, the real and imagined, past and future […] cease to be perceived as contractions."
André Breton wrote this quote in his seminal Manifesto of Surrealism (1924). The art of collage, very much in line with the spirit of Surrealism, unleashes the chimera of anarchic human imagination and thought, juxtaposing seemingly incongruent elements to bring out a reality unmediated by reason or consciousness, to bring out a surreality.
In Blommers & Schumm's black-and-white collage Merkelbach; Paraplu Hoofd (2013), one can see a quirky modern-day rendition of Archimboldo; but instead of an assortment of vegetables and fruits, we see everyday objects arranged into a portrait. The photographic duo uses this pareidolic illusion to reveal the ambiguity in our lives—is what we experience really what is presented before our eyes? Friction is created between the two modes of reality, and we are led to question whether it is our unconscious impressions or our rationality that should take precedence when looking at the world. What is to be believed, and what really constitutes reality, if there exists one at all?
