Inspiration: The New Collage

Through most of my formative education collage was considered something out of the past (i.e. Joseph Cornell's shadow boxes or Rauschenberg's assemblages) or a medium relegated to high school art classrooms or the realms of craft and personal expression. However, recently I find that collage is a great source of inspiration in my work, and more and more I've been thinking of my paintings and screen prints as a form of collage. The disjointed compositions generated from multiple sources reflect the sort of fragmentary postmodern experience I'm interested in examining through art. Moreover, with the exponential increase in internet usage and social media in last few years, we're cultivating a society exposed to endless overlapping and conflicting bits of information, making pastiche and collage seem like a natural expression of contemporary culture.

I'm amazed by all of the creative and beautiful collage art on the internet on a daily basis, so I wanted to share some of my personal favorite active collage artists (I follow them primarily on Instagram and Society6). Check out their inspiring works below!

California-based artist - Eugenia Loli

Glitter Flight by Eugenia Loli. See here work here.

Philladelphia-based artist - Trash Riot

West Coast Vide by Trash Riot. See more work here.

Cassia Beck from Brighton, England

I am the Inventor by Cassia Beck. See more of Cassia's work here.

I am the Inventor by Cassia Beck. See more of Cassia's work here.

Boston-based Molly Scannell

Sukker by Molly Scannell aka a_collage. See more of Molly's work here.

 

Sammy Slabbinck from Brugge, Belgium

The Great Escape by Sammy Slabbinck. See Sammy's work here.

 

Collage Artist Julien Ulvoas

Cinquante by Julien Ulvoas. See more from Julien here.

Collage Artist Douglas Hale

Secrets by Douglas Hale. See more of Douglas' work here.

Artist Beth Hoeckel from Baltimore 

FLOAT by Beth Hoeckel. See more of Beth's work here.

Do you have a favorite contemporary collage artist? Please share in the comments below!