Secret Still

Mixed Media? Collage? There are so many words that can mean almost the same thing, and things get more and more blurry in some sectors as technology progresses. I have no idea what label to use for Alex Cherry’s work. But I have a lot of adjectives for describing it: chaotic, transitional, dramatic, beautiful, subtle, and powerful. That list goes on and on. So, pragmatically speaking, it doesn’t matter what kind of label is attached to his work, just so long as the adjective ‘good’ or one of its many synonyms finds its way into my brain when I see it. That is definitely happening, so problem solved.

Alex Cherry

Most of us take a perverse pleasure in discovering how a magic trick is done. That moment of epiphany is something that delights the viewer and destroys the trick in its original role. It can no longer be magic if you know how it’s done, but you can still marvel at the mastery and talent that it takes to pull of such a stunt. Colin Chillag is the painter version of just such a reveal. He paints magnificent realistic portraits, but leaves the cartoon visible in some places, and often shows his entire color palette in the painting itself. Clearly he’s a master painter, but it interests me even more that he’s prepared to give so much away. It also ties the painting itself to the ideas of a painter and the effort that went into it, so you can no longer imagine these works being idly created from thin air in an hour. Think of this as post-modern literature in a visual arts framework.

Colin Chillag via Beautiful Decay

I woke up this morning with a burning fever, and the only thing that could cure it was some great design. Cristiana Couceiro floated in like a wartime nurse and soothed my sweaty brow with the cool simplicity of her graphic design work. She’s captured a perfect vintage aesthetic and coupled it with modern lines and shapes in a way that is seamless and perfect, right down to her type choices. You want to see really great design, then look no further.

Cristiana Couceiro

Karim Hamid magnifies and distorts the traditionally sexualized and objectified view of women in the modern media through the use of sloppy washes, crude lines, and nude forms. Think of it as the shared heterosexual male idea of women, but skewed to the predatory extremes emphasized by popular culture. It would be satire if it were funny instead of just true.

Karim Hamid

With maybe the most confusing and seizure inducing website I’ve seen in a while, I didn’t spend any time finding out about artist Are Mokkelbost. The name alone gave my brain a cramp. All I really needed to see were the images from the ION series of works. Then I realized they were collages. Then I ruined this pair of pants. Are you fucking kidding me? Those are collages? That is a height to which I never thought my least favorite art form could ever be lifted. There might as well be a new genre created for these, because the term collage doesn’t do them justice. No lie. You have got to see this.

Are Mokkelbost - ION series

Marcus Walters is one half of the founding members of New Future Graphic, a design firm in the UK. I was originally drawn to his work by the Kristina Collantes-esque image above. But I stuck around for all the mouth-watering construction paper work that he’s got. I love that shit. Can’t get enough of it. It makes me want to go home and sit on my floor with an X-acto making jungle scenes. I might just do that when I get home in fact. I don’t know if I would rightly call it collage, although that’s really what it is. Maybe it’s just hard for me to justify how much I like Walter’s work with how much I dislike collage in general. It just goes to show how great Walters is that he can help me overcome such a heavy prejudice. Can’t we all just get along? There are people in college today who don’t get that joke. That makes me feel old.

Marcus Walters

You know, you make a statement like “I’m not really a fan of collage” and then the whole universe works to throw things in your path that keep proving you wrong. Case in point: Joseba Elorza. Elorza’s site Mira Ruido is overflowing with collage work that makes my previous statement a joke. They’re simple designs, combining only a few elements, often with a wry smile, to create some wonderful symbolism. Layman’s terms: they’re good. That’s two colons I’ve used so far. I hate using colons, too. Why are you doing this to me, Universe?

Joseba Elorza

In general, I’m not usually down with collages. I like them, and I understand just how much of a creative endeavor they are, but part of me still thinks it’s cheating. For some reason that part of me was strangely silent when I saw the work of LA artist Mark Allen Miller. There are hand drawn elements of illustration, so that probably did something to quiet the teacher’s pet in me. But I think it’s more that the work doesn’t rely heavily on pre-made elements. I would be hesitant to even call it collage, but I don’t have any other word for it. I will call it good, though. It’s colorful, witty, makes great use of pattern, and combines Victorian and Modern styles seamlessly. I’d say he’s still got a little to improve, but shit, who among us doesn’t? I still get a little sprinkle on the rim when I’m shaking out my wang, and I’ve been practicing that for 20-some-odd years and change. Mark doesn’t have nearly so far to go in comparison.

Mark Allen Miller

Perpendicular Dreams is the work of Collage artist Julien Pacaud. It seems like a cross between a more subtle Terry Gilliam and Henry Darger. I have never been a huge fan of collage, but these make my nose tingle like static electricity. I just kinda want to stare at them until my eyes go crossed.

Julien Pacaud