The art of collage.
Collage is one of the most dangerous art forms. Apparently it does not require any technical skills: one does not have to know how to paint or draw; no need to study color theory or even have basic knowledge of perspective. Anyone, even a kid can use scissors and a glue stick; if the scissors are absent, one can decompose pictures by tearing them up and then re-assembling them together on a new surface.
This simplicity is an illusion.
When the artist does not have something unique to say, the resulting image will leave nothing for its creator to hide behind. A spiritually mediocre painting might preserve some sort of dignity thanks to excellent craftsmanship; a collage devoid of spirituality is but torn up paper recomposed on a new surface.
A collage artist who exhibits such failed attempts to communicate one’s feelings and thoughts is similar to a woman who is boasting of  lifeless and shapeless matter with a few nails, a couple of teeth, some fingers which did not develop even into a still born baby…
The current market-based art system promotes and encourages perversity of all kinds. Prestigious art galleries are similar to macabre kindergartens, which instead of happy toddlers are occupied by lifeless matter which never had any comprehensible shape or meaning to begin with.
It seems to me that art works ought to be classified not so much by the technique, but by spiritual complexity which reserves various places of spiritual ladder. Essentially I distinguish three main stages, though there are countless combinations in between.
The lowest stage is an art which comes out of and ends with the desire for self expression. The result can come out better or worse, but the limit of such an approach is  flatness and repetitiveness. Usually such an artist perceives outside world as a mere receptor of one’s rather basic emotions. At best this kind of an art work can be “cute” like baby’s bubbling, because it is sincere.
The middle stage is that of an art based on craftsmanship. In this case artist draws vital resources from a sophisticated organism called “culture”. Roots of this kind of art spread out wide into spiritual experience of one’s predecessors. Boundaries of such an art work are delineated by cultural references, for they set up the rules of the game. Though predictable, it tends to dazzle the viewer with technical excellence and sophistication of variations upon the same theme.
The highest stage is an artwork which is a co-creation of an artist with invisible, un earthy force.  Some call it “God”, others “Universe”, still others call it “Life Energy”. In this case artist feels that he is being possessed;  the process of creation is extremely dangerous for one’s psyche. It resembles wondering naked in the vacuum of the cosmos. However the result of such extreme experiences is art of the highest level: one of a kind, marked by depth, originality, and sophistication; meeting with such art work feels like a revelation which changes the viewer’s perspective upon reality.
No matter how high is the degree of craftsmanship involved, the creator of such an artwork is incapable of repeating it. In this case the artist resembles a very sophisticated super conductor, through whose personality is channeled cosmic energy.  To avoid traumatic spiritual longing similar to that of an abandoned lover, an artist who dared to cross space delineated by the blue ribbon of terrestrial atmosphere, must accept life of constant radical spiritual change. The motive for such stellar search can’t be the desire to dazzle people, cosmos, or oneself, but generosity to the point of self- abandonment, echoing that of an original Great Creator.
Collage can be an ideal mirror for reflecting cosmic processes; in both cases already existing elements are constantly re-arranged. However, the initial random combination has to be consolidated into a meaningful, comprehensible and unique creation. Without being unified by a very partiular vision, collage is merely a bit of mindlessly glued together paper; as such it has no reason for existence.