Cutting and Pasting: The Art of Collage on Display at Beverly Arts Center

Marc Vitali | July 18, 2025, 3:25 pm

Art on display in the “RE-BOP!” exhibition at the Beverly Arts Center. (Marc Vitali / WTTW News)

Whether they work with the latest digital programs or cut up old magazines with scissors, artists can turn collage into a medium of beauty, darkness and humor.

At first glance, an exhibition of collage at the Beverly Arts Center appears modest. Spend time with the show “RE-BOP!” and the artwork reveals variety and depth.

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As it turns out, there’s a worldwide community of collage artists. They even have a multi-day festival in New Orleans each year called Kolaj Fest.

And there’s a participatory magazine, Cut Me Up, which features collages that can be used as raw material. Readers/artists are encouraged to slice and dice and make new works. (Note: In Chicago, Cut Me Up is available at Quimby’s Bookstore.)

Cut Me Up magazine also assisted in this exhibition, putting out the call for some of the artists featured at the Beverly Arts Center.

“There were 150 responses, and we narrowed it down to 18,” Paloma Trecka told WTTW News. Trecka is one of the curators of “RE-BOP!”

All told, nearly 60 artists represent the art of collage in the show. They come from Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands and across the U.S. One artist has been making collages for half a century; another is a 19-year-old student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Art on display in the “RE-BOP!” exhibition at the Beverly Arts Center. (Marc Vitali / WTTW News)

Perhaps the most prominent local is Tony Fitzpatrick. This is the third iteration of the show, which was started by the Humboldt Park-based artist.

“It was Tony’s idea initially to have an exhibition to show improvisation and syncopation that happens visually,” Trecka said. “He said: ‘I can just feel it — it’s got this bop!’”

Fitzpatrick contributes a collage that features a bird he saw in Haiti years ago, and he relates a compelling story of the country under the reign of dictator “Baby Doc” Duvalier; much of the wall text in “RE-BOP!” gives background on the ideas that sparked the work and/or the process of creating it.

The show is subtitled “Obstructions & Disruptions.” Look closely and you’ll see patterns that emerge intuitively or rhythmically — and change just as quickly. Improvisation is key for some of these creatives.

“Artists might feel obstruction or disruption in a personal way or a metaphorical way,” said Trecka, an instructor at DePaul University.

Art on display in the “RE-BOP!” exhibition at the Beverly Arts Center. (Marc Vitali / WTTW News)

“I’m an animator as well,” Trecka added. “So for me, movement is absolutely everything. It’s like being a dancer. Music and dance is all about rhythm and pacing, and animation is about that, too. I try to get that into my collage work.”

Trecka curated the show with artist Todd Bartel, and they got assistance from the grassroots group Beverly Arts Alliance on the Far South Side.

“Collage is a great medium for our times,” said Sal Campbell of the Beverly Arts Alliance. “Everything is so chaotic. There’s a lot of obfuscation, so they take all of that input and repurpose it.”

There’s also chance, surprise pairings and stacked meanings — a sofa blended with a rotary telephone, for instance, or references to art masterpieces, including a funny re-imagining of Thomas Gainsborough’s painting “The Blue Boy.”

All of it is made by a variety of artists around the city and around the world with a common interest in the medium of collage.

“Everyone’s from somewhere else,” Trecka said. “They didn’t work together on this project, but somehow there’s a thread through it all.”

Art on display in the “RE-BOP!” exhibition at the Beverly Arts Center. (Marc Vitali / WTTW News)