Solo (2022)
Solo (2022) explores the conceptual limits of collage through a deliberately restrictive rule: each work is constructed from a single found image. Sourced from issues of National Geographic published between the 1960s and 1970s, the series asks a deceptively simple question: Can a collage still exist when only one image is used?
For Scott, the project became what he described as “an interesting creative conundrum, one in which a singular image changes meaning.” Rather than assembling multiple fragments, the works rely on the careful reconfiguration of one photograph. Through precise cuts, folds, and shifts, elements of the original image are repositioned so that new relationships emerge within the same visual field.
The process draws upon a range of cutting techniques, from the spontaneity of the rip to the controlled incision of the blade. These gestures allow Scott to interrupt the photograph’s original narrative, subtly redirecting the viewer’s attention. A horizon may fracture and realign, a figure may echo itself across the surface, or a landscape may fold inward to create an impossible space. The image remains singular, yet its meaning becomes multiple.
The series continues Scott’s earlier interest in “no waste” approaches to collage, while also reflecting the influence of the LESS methodology developed by the Danish-Ukrainian artist Sergei Sviatchenko, a friend and occasional collaborator whose work similarly explores minimal intervention and visual precision.
Through this restrained framework, Solo becomes an investigation into the power of the smallest gesture. By working with only one image, Scott demonstrates how subtle acts of cutting and repositioning can destabilise familiar imagery, revealing the unexpected possibilities that lie hidden within the photograph itself.
Solo (2022) explores the conceptual limits of collage through a deliberately restrictive rule: each work is constructed from a single found image. Sourced from issues of National Geographic published between the 1960s and 1970s, the series asks a deceptively simple question: Can a collage still exist when only one image is used?
For Scott, the project became what he described as “an interesting creative conundrum, one in which a singular image changes meaning.” Rather than assembling multiple fragments, the works rely on the careful reconfiguration of one photograph. Through precise cuts, folds, and shifts, elements of the original image are repositioned so that new relationships emerge within the same visual field.
The process draws upon a range of cutting techniques, from the spontaneity of the rip to the controlled incision of the blade. These gestures allow Scott to interrupt the photograph’s original narrative, subtly redirecting the viewer’s attention. A horizon may fracture and realign, a figure may echo itself across the surface, or a landscape may fold inward to create an impossible space. The image remains singular, yet its meaning becomes multiple.
The series continues Scott’s earlier interest in “no waste” approaches to collage, while also reflecting the influence of the LESS methodology developed by the Danish-Ukrainian artist Sergei Sviatchenko, a friend and occasional collaborator whose work similarly explores minimal intervention and visual precision.
Through this restrained framework, Solo becomes an investigation into the power of the smallest gesture. By working with only one image, Scott demonstrates how subtle acts of cutting and repositioning can destabilise familiar imagery, revealing the unexpected possibilities that lie hidden within the photograph itself.
