50 years of cutting out with Erro

On exhibition at Centre Pompidou in Paris until May 24, Icelandic artist Erró is showing a 50-year retrospective of his collage work. With pieces dating from as early as 1958, this major collection showcases 66 collages, a huge achievement by any standard.

Political, critical, humorous, and sometimes slightly disturbing, the images incorporate everything from faces of supermodels cut to resemble mechanical components, to comics, U.S. images of Chinese propaganda, advertising, scientific journals, and even Cuban or Russian takes on classical painting - all of which create a giddy and sometimes perversive new world.

Inspired by his first trip to New York in 1963, Erró encountered the new Pop Art movement, which made a deep impression on him. Comics—from early-20th century to the latest cyber-futuristic versions—have long fascinated Erró, who notes: “All pictures are worthy of examination; they can be political, social, historical, scientific, cultural or erotic, they can be comic strips, cartoons, copies, advertisements, or something else, the only thing that matters is whether everyone understands it, not only the connoisseurs.”

As collage art graphics continue to inspire everything from magazine layouts to fabric prints, it seems fully immersed in our contemporary culture, definitely not just for connoisseurs.