Collages
This body of work is an extension of my exploration of the natural cycle of life...creation, existence and decay. The repurposing of print materials gives the contents new life after being broken down and reassembled. Bits of imagery that weren't intended to be placed together create a new aesthetic and give fresh meaning to the original images. The works are intended to be appreciated on multiple levels...from a distance, the work may look like a painting; on closer examination, the source materials become more obvious, blending together and forming new patterns. Up close, each image can be observed independently.
The process involves sourcing the desired material, whether it be magazines, record jackets, newsprint, paperback books, etc. Once enough material is collected, it is sorted into colors, then ripped into thousands of individual strips. The color strips are arranged by shade on a large table to create my “palette”. Each strip is adhered to the surface using a clear acrylic medium as glue. I view collaging like painting, but instead of paint, I’m using paper strips for each “brushstroke”. The beauty of this is that, unlike paint, each brushstroke contains a complex array of textures and color. The combination of strips layered beside and on top of each other trick the eye into seeing completely new patterns and gradients that don’t exist on each individual piece.
