paulregan.studio

Assemblage

Written by Paul Regan, ©paulregan.studio

RA Summer Exhibition – Conrad Shawcross – Scroll

This learning resource was inspired by a number of ‘assemblage’ works on show at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2026; artworks produced by putting two unconnected objects together, to create something entirely new.

Two supposedly unrelated things, placed together, can create a meaning that neither one had when on it’s own. It could be a physical joining of objects or materials, or two images spliced into one. Sometimes the two parts might be connected in everyday reality, but sometimes it might be an unexpected bringing together.

RA Summer Exhibition – John Wigley – Natura Morta
RA Summer Exhibition – Lisa Pettibone – Encounter
RA Summer Exhibition – Ashley Rudolph – Fragments, Everyone Will Get A Piece
Picasso – Bull’s Head 1942
Marcel Duchamp – Bicycle Wheel 1951
Man Ray – Gift 1926
Meret Oppenheim – Object (Fur-covered cup, saucer, and spoon) 1936
John Stezaker – Mask XXXV, 2007
Weronika Gęsicka – Untitled #54
Peter Kennard, Haywain with Cruise Missiles 1980

Suggested activities:


  • Discuss artworks above.
  • Word activity: Students to take two random, unrelated object names from a hat and have 5 minutes to sketch what a combined version might look like.
  • Working in pairs, give students a pool of real, unrelated objects and printed images. Ask them to physically pair two together, then analyse and discuss the piece to discover what the new assemblage might suggest to them.
  • Draw or paint from the new assemblage.
  • Present work to the class for discussion.