Assemblage is the process of bringing individual objects or pieces together to form a larger whole. But as a process, assemblage is more often associated with the transformation of common materials into art, in which the artist forms all of the parts that are put together rather than finding the parts in the world. For example, Louise Nevelson's Sky Cathedral is a giant assemblage of wooden boxes, wood-working remnants and scraps, and found objects. It is entirely frontal and functions like a giant high-relief altarpiece. Nevelson manages to make a piece of almost endless variety and difference appear unified and coherent through the asymmetrical balance of its grid structure, the repetition of forms and shapes, and, above all, its overall black coloring. The black gives it a bit of mystery.
