Collage is medium that allows me to reuse and recycle the printed material around my home - providing me with a wealth of material, colour and design possibilities. I am just as happy using an art book, a newspaper, a surfing magazine, a cookbook, or a leaflet from the letterbox.
This piece is inspired by a world renownedcollage artist from New York, Derek Gores. He recycles magazines, labels, data, and assorted analog and digital materials to create his work on canvas. He explains: "I like my pictures to barely come together with teasing little details. Sort of like how the mind can't help but wander, even when trying to focus on one thing.”
When I started this piece I worked with overall tonal characteristics of the models face, but what torn/cut pictures made up this image became random chance and magical. A mouth and chin made from parts of a cityscape, a lampshade and a fridge!
The fact that the next thing I stuck on the page was a piece of random reused print enabled a picture more interesting than if I had planned it methodically. By recycling print and making it useful again makes collage exciting and unpredictable. I don’t like to start an art piece knowing how it will exactly look - what’s the fun in that?
