Recycling the Pre-Printed
As an art student, I have dabbled in almost every type of art imaginable within this physical world. One of my labors of love is Collage art, and the act of turning existing, recycled materials into new and different imagery. I find that because the material already exists, it doesn't make as much sense to send it to land-fill when it can be repurposed. And due to the vast nature of available shapes, colors, words, objects and more that come with the material, the possibilities are endless for the types of art that you can create.
Now, there are a lot of collage artists out there, but I happen to chose the most difficult route ( I know, classic) when creating my art. I deconstruct the pieces in front of me, making a total mess of my art space with paper scraps constantly being sucked up into the vacuum when cleaning, and reconstruct them into what I almost feel is like a puzzle without pre-defined pieces. There is just something about placing these individual pieces that indicates to me when to know it is in the 'right' place. Other times, I will create a draft with pre-cut material I think might work well together. As you can see by some of the art in the images, these collages can get quite intricate, and the have been known to take months to create. (Sorry art teachers! I am not an art factory!)
Why do I do this?
Deep underneath the commercial grumblings of our marketing media that is constantly pushed to us as a society, I feel that there are conversations that aren't being captured, voices that are being smothered by the capitalistic salesman pitches, and ideas that are being snuffed out due to the sheer volume of ads we recieve on a daily basis. By re-purposing this material, it has shown me that we can bring those voices and creativity to the forefront, and showcase a more beautiful life of possibilities other than just buying and spending your life away. Capitalism can really take a toll on the mind, and if you're struggling to navigate it, it can also take a toll on your wallet. While this purchasing power-culture can do a lot of good in the world as well, this is my means of fighting back against the negative impacts of constant beratement from ads and selling tactics.
Do you only work with Paper Materials?
The beauty of the digital age is that where we no longer need to create printed material in order to collage it anymore! I work in both digital and physical material, as I like to ability to 'move between worlds.' While physical collages are more intricate, time consuming, and essentially a meditation of myself, the digital world allows me to play nimbly and without fear of ruining some of my more precious cuts I've saved. It also opens up a whole world of digital material I can 'clip' from easily, making the process of art creation more scalable and quick.
How long does it take to make collage art?
It can take anywhere from weeks to months to product a unique single large sized analog collage. Part of this process relies on sourcing pre-printed material. Ideally printed material is sourced from unique cities or regions that help define the art's personality when finished. For example, the collage 'Clarity', from May 2020 was created using street stickers and unique graphics from the vibrant art district in Miami, FL during the pandemic when the streets were empty.
Sourcing the materials for a collage is just as important as piecing it toghether as it adds to the origin, and this can take time in order to make the materials unique.