Collage Inspiration

Cover art by Sarah Bridgland; top centre: Rex Ray; top right, bottom right and bottom center: Martin O’Neill

I picked up the latest issue of Uppercase Magazine with the intention of taking it to read while I was on vacation this summer. But it never did make it on the trip because I couldn’t resist reading it all before I left. I wrote about Uppercase in a previous post but I just had to mention issue #18 as it’s about one of my most favourite things–collage! It was exciting to see a range of both 2 and 3 dimensional work that incorporated a variety of different materials and mediums.

I really appreciated Sarah Bridgland’s eye for typography in her intricate sculptural pieces, one of which is pictured on the cover. We get an inside peek into Martin O’Neill’s unique workspace of which was once a former junk shop. What I thought was “a lot” in regards to the amount of supplies I’d collected doesn’t even come close to the towering drawers and boxes of ephemera that Martin has amassed. Rex Ray is another artist who I have long admired for his bold use of colour and graphic patterns. The story of his beginnings speaks to his drive in pursuing opportunities and forging the right partnerships to grow his career.

The last article titled City Song by Andrea Jenkins really connected to my own painting process and in particular to a series of paintings that I am putting together for an upcoming show at The Cultch. The city is a mecca of visual imagery and is a collage of sorts in its mix of buildings, signage, sounds, lights and people mingling amongst them all.  So it is often why I like incorporating my own photos of the urban landscape into my painting.  Whether it be a telephone pole or a metal grate, in highlighting the textures, shapes and patterns of everyday objects allows them to be seen in a new way.

If you want to take in some collage inspiration yourself, you can find a copy at Collage Collage on Kingsway, near Fraser Street and at Paper-Ya on Granville Island.