“Collage is the cut, the tear, the rupture, and the overlay of our contemporary culture. It is the hybrid language of urbanity–remixed, re-contextualized, and wholly built from the fragments of daily life.”
— Pavel Zoubok
"LäraBar", D. Wilder
"Try on Tacos", D. Wilder
For me, collage art has always been about deconstructing and reordering everyday ephemera. Much like pioneering collage artists Picasso and Braque, who began incorporating newspapers, wallpaper, and other everyday materials into their paintings around 1912, I’m drawn to using the familiar and overlooked. German artist Kurt Schwitters has also been a significant influence; he developed his own collage technique called "Merz," using fragments of tickets, advertisements, and other found materials to create abstract compositions.
Kurt Schwitters, 1920
Kurt Schwitters, 1920
Creating collages lets me step out of the digital realm and reconnect with hand-crafted, abstract compositions. The process of layering, cutting, and arranging pieces to build textures and forms allows me to construct a new narrative. I love exploring contrasts and juxtapositions of color and texture, and this cutting and pasting puts me in a Zen-like state unlike any other medium or discipline. Henri Matisse described his collage work as “painting with scissors,” a phrase I connect with—creating bold, colorful shapes that express movement and joy.
Working on these small collages in my sketchbook gives me the freedom to explore ideas quickly and (hopefully) without judgment. I can leave these pieces as they are or expand on them, either in whole or in part, as a foundation for larger works.
Almost everyone has a pair of scissors, some glue or tape, and old magazines around, so dive in, “paint with scissors,” and find some joy!
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