In the realm of the material, a computer image is capable of nearly seamless collage. Its lack of inherent "surface", its existence as first and foremost a "description" of a picture, makes this so. At the same time, its ability to gather images from such an array of personal and public sources - photography, drawing, diagrammatic rendering, video, broadcast television "synthetic" 3D imaging - provides an opportunity to create highly charged composite images with multiple and even contradictory references to science, art, reportage, media, memory. It is significant that these sources are themselves inherently collage-like.

The Card Plates series, composed of 30" x 22" IRIS prints, begins with the metaphor of the press sheet. Each print has the dauntingly dense and composite look of a pre-signatured or pre-trimmed sheet codex. However, it is clear relatively soon that there is a basic card unit structure, composed of 2D and 3D elements, that weaves a repetition and redundancy across a quasi narrative space - a cross between a mosaic and a comicstrip. This density and blending of temporal and spacial landscaping is a reflection of the implosion of all image making systems currently underway within our culture with no clear end in sight. We must find a way to thrive, navigate and play within the image world we have created and continue to expand.

Paul Berger, BFA 1970, UCLA; MFA 1973, Visual Studies Workshop. I have worked in the photographic medium since 1965, and in digital electronic media since 1981. I have exhibited nationally and in Europe, and have received two NEA grants, 1979 and 1986.