Artist: Mike Swaney
+ michaelswaney.com

Artist: Sarah Greene Reid
+ dbermangallery.com

Artist: Claudio Parentela
+ claudioparentela.net

Artist: Amy Thompson
+ amyalice.com

One of Amy Rice’s favorite artists is collage specialist Ida Pearle, based in NYC. Pearle sketches out scenes that are then played out by bits of patterned and coloured paper. The specialty papers used by Pearle include Coloraid (a silk-screened art paper), origami papers, wallpaper and wrapping paper. Pearle’s vignettes are mostly seasonal and theme-based, but the artist started out by creating scenes that sprung from what was going on in the lives of her friends.

Artist: Ida Pearle
+ idapearle.com

Yes, of course, another dreamy collage of ethereal doe-eyed nymphs. No, not so, not when the nymph has long since grown up and is now sleeping through the torment of dragons. The dreamy nymphs are indeed represented in Ann Marshall’s portfolio, but every once in a while other less lithe creatures sneak in. Marshall creates portraits of dreamers and dreamy, young and old by softening the focus of this day and age to provide a vintage window into MoCo souls.

Artist: Ann Marshall
+ annmarshallart.com

Tim Groen is a New York-based illustrator who uses vintage wallpapers for collage. Groen likens his work to “visual haikus with a beatnik twist” because he tries to keep a very minimalist theme with influences from the late 50’s. Inspired by design from Giorgio Morandi, Le Corbusier and Myron stout, Groen is just as happy to credit flea market finds, store signage and set design and advertising art from the 60’s as other sources.

Artist: Tim Groen
+ velocityartanddesign.com

Miss Mess is Montenegro artist Marijana Zebeljan who goes by the moniker because as an artist, life is often a big mess on different levels. On the one hand, things are messily complicated when you are waiting for someone to buy a piece of work so that you in turn can buy more paint, but on the other hand the mess also refers to the whirl of creativity inspired by the mess of life itself.

Artist: Marijana Zebeljan
+ missmess.net

It is always fascinating to follow the themes through an artist’s work, especially when extremely unusual, and Javier Piñon is no exception. Cowboys have always made an appearance in Piñon’s work and his latest collages are rife with these Wild West heroes and their bizarre need to use chairs as props. The men in chaps tumble from towers of chairs stacked high upon the shoulders of a young woman; they pitch them through the vast prairie sky – ours is not to reason why…

Artist: Javier Pinon
+ ziehersmith.com

Christopher (or C.K.) Wilde is a collagist who creates with currency. Wilde painstakingly cuts various shapes out of paper money from around the world to form collages with economic and political undertones and overlays. The relationship between art and commerce is another theme that cannot be avoided when an artist cuts and pastes with money. Wilde bases a lot of his works on found images that he develops into his own compositions, which he will lay down on museum board before skillfully applying his umpteen bits of currency so that they abut in order to keep to the ideal of an even surface. The resulting puzzle is then sealed with wax. A tidy alternative to keeping it under the mattress.

Artist: C.K. Wilde
+ artichokeyinkpress.com

Cutting, pasting and painting are the key components that make up the artistic process for Jennifer Davis who is obsessed with found images. Combining acrylic and graphite with offerings from magazines and newspapers is something Davis does on a daily basis, allowing her art to act as a journal or release for her creativity. The narratives develop through the process and the pieces emerge once Davis sits down with her canvas, paints and precious bits of paper.

Artist: Jennifer Davis
+ jenniferdavisart.com