Call for Issue 09: Summer 2022
Curated by Laurent Seljan

Deadline for submissions: April 1, 2022

Scars and All

Collage is the French word for “gluing.” Although glue is a means of attachment in most forms of collage, it is often hidden, creating a surreal quality. But if the means of attachment are exposed, new lines are created, perspective flattens and texture emerges. The collage is no longer an image, but an object moving away from surrealism to embrace abstraction, constructivism or expressionism.

Collage can also be a metaphor for how we piece together the fragments of our lives. In our attempts to create a seamless, cohesive self, we may repress difficult emotions or conceal our flaws to create a smooth, presentable surface. But what is the real self beneath?

For the next issue of Cut Me Up, create a psychological self-portrait using parts of Issue 8. Look deep into yourself and show who you are, your fears, doubts and hopes...Be proud to show your scars! The assembling method will become an important element of your composition, or even the main one. Be Dr. Frankenstein and be wild with your submissions: Dare to over-glue, over-staple or over-tape to give the medium strength and character.

– Laurent Seljan, Artist and Designer

To submit artwork responses:

  • Dare transparency: Describe your personality through a psychological self-portrait without using facial or anatomic elements.

  • Don’t hide anything: The technique(s) you choose to join the collage together must be an apparent and important element that enhances the final composition. One example is the work of Spanish artist Manolo Millares, who creates visual tension with strings and thick materials.

  • Show your complexity: Multiple layers, thickness and translucency are very welcome.

  • All eligible submissions must incorporate some portion or portions of Cut Me Up: Issue 8.


Issue 9 Curator Laurent Seljan

Laurent Seljan is a multifaceted French artist based in Spain. He practices drawing, as well as painting, photography and collage, to which he came as a teenager after seeing Herbie Hancock’s Rockit music video. After using collages as models for his paintings, only in 2014 did he consider it work in itself. He has been a set designer, has worked in antiques and interior decoration, and has recently turned to audiovisuals as a movie script writer.

Instagram: @laurentseljan
Web: laurentseljan.com


Cut Me Up Magazine Issue 9: Scars and All was published on July 1, 2022.