Zach Collins '14, Collage | Minneapolis College of Art and Design

Zach Collins '14, Collage

Initially working in the digital realm, I felt the need to step away and began to use analog collages to illustrate my concepts, experience, and memories. Working in this way opened my eyes to the fascinating process of analog collage, but also I found increasing inspiration and community through social media, by finding the collage communities on the Internet, and joining several collage-related groups. Now I meet and collaborate with collage artists from around the world, currently I have collaborated with over one hundred artists. Through these collaborations, I have gained knowledge of different ways to work and uses of materials.

My process includes the concepts of a ‘mobile landscape’ and the element of ‘chance’ since I usually start with a couple of found pieces that intrigue me -- an image, text, or a discolored, worn, marked-up piece of cultural ephemera. Then I like to arrange, cut, and move different pieces in and out of the composition, letting the fragments of paper help me stumble upon ideas, stories, personal associations, and happy accidents until I am comfortable gluing the pieces down.

Drawn to source materials that predate my existence because they were new to me and unfamiliar, I am attracted to the graphic typefaces and the style of old images along with elements of fading, uneven color blends, dot patterns, and off-registration. I enjoy the hunt for the materials, which tend to have aged elements and patina. The tactile nature of paper and the evidence of its history are important elements in my work.

My collage works follow a tradition of using collaboration and technology to further the art form. When two creative personalities collaborate, each one’s work is affected by that collaboration creating an exciting synergy.

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