Collage as the basis of creative methodology of Sergey Paradzhanov

In this article we have analyzed the artistic features of S. Paradzhanov’s art. We have investigated the interaction of Paradzhanov’s cinematic works with his collages. Analysis of creative work of S. Paradzhanov suggests that the master deliberately abandons a number of opportunities provided by the director of traditional cinematic language, manifesting such an “screen painting”. Analysis of films, artworks and screenplays by S. Paradzhanov allowed us to identify three main features of his collage tools: 1) work with color and visionary elements; 2) features of visual representation of texts; 3) textures and volumes of images in the frame. Collage techniques have a number of purely visual properties, which are reproduced in different ways in cinematic artistic background. It is likely that S. Paradzhanov, fully aware of this peculiarity, emphasized certain qualitative features of the collage technique, achieving the desired effect in the frame. That is why, in our opinion, Paradzhanov’s collage could exist only within the framework of author’s cinema in the aesthetics of Soviet art. Postmodernist thinking came to Soviet art through author’s cinema, where S. Paradzhanov was one of the key figures.