ARTIST STATEMENT
I am both new to collage and revisiting my youth….for several years in the 1980s making collages was a way of fitting together my love of surreal images, the political commentary of John Heartfield, Hannah Hoch and Peter Kennard, the Dada movement, and a diy punk ethic of anybody can have a go. Life and responsibilities intervened and the piles of magazines were set aside or decades. A global pandemic gave me hours of time at home and no venues to play music in (my regular work). I made a picture for a zine my daughter was making, I made a few cards for people and I felt a familiar thrill, a memory of being able to make pictures without traditional or technical art skills. Instagram turned out to be a fantastic virtual space to see the astonishing work of global collage makers, to join in the prompts and challenges set by wonderful people around the world. It is very inclusive, there’s only encouragement for keeping going. I’m trying out lots of things, loving the freedom and playfulness of the medium. The sources are getting ever wider, beyond photos to bits of interesting looking rubbish in the street. I’m developing a personal style combining photographic and graphic elements, hints of narratives and characterisation, observations and commentary
ARTIST BIO
The accessible nature of the collage making has been highlighted by the places that I have been able to display them. During 2021 pictures have been selected for inclusion in physical and online exhibitions in UK, Russia and USA. Images have been chosen for books published by collage collectives in Paris, Edinburgh and Arizona.