Cut Me Up Magazine
Cut Me Up Magazine is a participatory magazine of visual call and response. Each issue presents a call—a curated selection of original collage images that become raw material for reader-artists to respond by cutting, reconfiguring, and transforming them into new artworks, in response to curatorial calls addressing contemporary issues. The newly created responses form the content of the next issue.
Learn more about Cut Me Up and purchase the magazine at:
cutmeupmagazine.com
Cut Me Up Magazine is a visual call and response dialogue in printed form.
The first call consists of eighteen original collages that I created for the inaugural issue. They were an offering to be considered, absorbed, and then deconstructed by cutting, modifying, or transforming them — using them to make new works.
The collages featured in this issue use handmade and found paper fragments to reveal the transformative power of the creative process and channel the magic of the everyday world. These works explore personal experiences, including spirituality; themes of growth, deterioration and rebirth; ritual; and secret dreams. Made between 2016-2018, they capture a span in which my life changed in many profound ways.
Issue 2: Inside Out was curated by Andrea Burgay and artist John Whitlock, featuring 19 original artworks selected from the responses to Issue 1.
The featured artists unearthed layers of imagery and meaning from the works in Issue 1, transmuting and integrating these using personal iconographies and material processes.
Issue 3: Tabula Rasa was curated by artist and curator Todd Bartel, in response to his curatorial call. He has asked artists to reflect on the condition of the planet through the lens of landscape, erasure, and blankness.
Todd’s full call can be found here: Cut Me Up Submissions Issue 4
Issue 4: Turning Point was curated by artist and director of The Weird Show, Max-O-Matic. Max asked artists to reflect on the issues of the current moment using contemporary materials.
Max’ full call can be found here: Cut Me Up Submissions Issue 4
Issue 5: Envisioning Utopia was curated by artist Valerie Hegarty. Valerie’s call encouraged artists to unearth optimistic possibilities from yesterday’s shattered world, consider contemporary problems and create imaginative solutions, endeavoring to find the seeds for a hopeful tomorrow.
Valerie’s full call can be found here: Cut Me Up Submissions Issue 5
Issue 6: Object Lessons was curated by artist and educator Michael Oatman. Michael’s call asked artists to reflect on the history of the found object as Readymade, while exploring the importance of personal objects within our pandemic landscape.
Michael’s full call can be found here: Cut Me Up Submissions Issue 6
Issue 7: Solve et Coagula was curated by artist Enrique “Kike” Congrains. His call coaxed artists to explore alchemy, magick, ouroboric mythos, iconoclasm and the occult. Kike’s call reveals the alchemical origins of collage itself, “ In its purest form, collage is alchemy: a power that transforms by destroying and merging components from multiple sources into a new creation.”
Kike’s full call can be found here: Cut Me Up Submissions Issue 7
Cut Me Up Issue 8: Guided by Instinct
Issue 8: Guided by Instinct was curated by artist and educator Naomi White. Naomi’s call asked artists to explore humans’ complex relationships with animals, and the implications these relationships have on our lives and planet.
Naomi’s full call can be found here: Cut Me Up Submissions Issue 8
Issue 9: Scars and All was curated by artist Laurent Seljan. Laurent’s call asked artists to use assembling methods—tape, thread, glue, staples and pins—as expressive elements to describe their personal psychology.
Laurent’s full call can be found here: Cut Me Up Submissions Issue 9
Issue 10: Reconnect was curated by Cut Me Up Magazine Editor and Founder Andrea Burgay. Andrea’s call asked artists to make artworks to directly respond to the psychological self-portraits of Cut Me Up Issue 9: Scars and All. This call for Issue 10 repeated the call for Cut Me Up Issue 1 — the original manifesto for the magazine.
Andrea’s full call can be found here: Cut Me Up Submissions Issue 10
Issue 11: Souvenir was curated by artist and Director of Exhibitions and Programs at Albany International Airport, Kathy Greenwood. Kathy’s call asked artists to make two-dimensional and sculptural submissions that interpret the idea of a souvenir — from the classic gift shop merch to more personal mementos.
Kathy’s full call can be found here: Cut Me Up Submissions Issue 11
The works from this issue are included in the first in-person exhibition of artworks from an issue of Cut Me Up: Souvenir, curated by Kathy Greenwood, at the Albany International Airport from June 30 through December 27, 2023.
View the exhibition here: Souvenir Exhibition
Cut Me Up Issue 12: Eros was curated by artist Allan Bealy. Allan’s call asked artists to explore the realm of eroticism, considering that the erotic is not merely synonymous with sex, but rather encompasses a range of human emotions and experiences integral to creativity. For this issue, artists were asked to imagine their own erotic landscape through the medium of collage while incorporating elements from Cut Me Up Issue 11: Souvenir.
Allan’s full call can be found here: Cut Me Up Submissions Issue 12
Cut Me Up Issue 13: Nearby, Between
Cut Me Up Issue 13: Nearby Between was curated by artist and information professional Katie Blake. Katie asked artists to explore the Japanese concept of Ma 間, described as a “pause in time, an interval or emptiness in space” through employing new collage techniques.
Kathy’s full call can be found here: Cut Me Up Submissions Issue 13