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Matthieu Bourel’s Bizarre Collages and GIFs Deconstruct Vintage Photographs

Since its inception, Hollywood has shown us an image of unattainable youth and glamour, though quite frankly, French collage artist Matthieu Bourel doesn't seem too impressed. Whether in his hand-cut collages or entrancing animated GIFs, Bourel deconstructs images of models and actors of a bygone era. He splices divas' head shots with anatomical diagrams, peeling away what looks like layers of skin to reveal veins and eyeballs. In other works, faces come off like masks only to reveal more removable faces underneath. Bourel's bizarre and slightly morbid work points to the illusions of the entertainment industry. He makes his viewers cognizant of the absurdity of our celebrity-obsessed culture through his strange sense of humor.

Since its inception, Hollywood has shown us an image of unattainable youth and glamour, though quite frankly, French collage artist Matthieu Bourel doesn’t seem too impressed. Whether in his hand-cut collages or entrancing animated GIFs, Bourel deconstructs images of models and actors of a bygone era. He splices divas’ head shots with anatomical diagrams, peeling away what looks like layers of skin to reveal veins and eyeballs. In other works, faces come off like masks only to reveal more removable faces underneath. Bourel’s bizarre and slightly morbid work points to the illusions of the entertainment industry. He makes his viewers cognizant of the absurdity of our celebrity-obsessed culture through his strange sense of humor.

Topics

animated GIF, Collage, Matthieu Bourel

art, Collage, Thomas Spieler

July 11, 2014

German-born collage artist Thomas Spieler creates intriguing multimedia works that play with the dualism that exists between the human and natural worlds. Spieler juxtaposes vintage black-and-white photographs of human figures with brightly colored photographs of more abstract forms. Many of the black-and-white photos look like they could be ads or pictures of movie stars lifted from old magazines, while others appear to be photographs of classical sculptures from antiquity. Meanwhile, the colorful photos are of objects found in nature, such as minerals, geological formations, butterfly wings and flower petals.

Maja Egli’s Collages of Women Mix Handmade and Digital Techniques

Collage, maja egli, Portraiture

March 8, 2016

Collage artist Maja Egli creates surreal portraits by manipulating various images of women to work together as complex unities. Her work can be read both as a feminist statement and as a larger comment on humanity: on one level, she suggests that women are complex beings (a quality that is often denied to them in much of mainstream art), while on the other, Egli’s collages imply that we as human beings are composed of disparate and assorted influences. Most of her figures are incomplete, lacking some fullness of form; the few full figures that we do get are faceless.

Dan Hillian’s Surrealist Drawings Inspired by Victorian Etchings

Collage, Dan Hillian, Ink Drawing, Photoshop

October 14, 2015

Victorian art and literature is characterized by Romantic poetry and Gothic horror. London-based artist Dan Hillian plays with these tensions to create contemporary ink drawings and Photoshop collages animated by fantastical landscapes and uncanny events, all connected by exacting geometries. In an interview with Creative-Mapping, Hillian discusses his desire to "transport people to somewhere a little bit mysterious." This, he certainly achieves, with exploding shapes that radiate out from a central figure. The protagonists of Hillian's images approach the supernatural, especially those that seem to morph into plants and animals before the viewer's eye. However, the transitions are also clues to the figures' personalities, fears and desires.

Studio Visit: Behind the Scenes of Lala Abaddon’s Woven Photography

Collage, Lala Abaddon, Photography, weaves, woven photography

August 22, 2014

Emerging NYC-based artist Lala Abaddon's journey through the art world started with analog photography and poetry. The idea of creating works that carry more than one story always fascinated her, and Abaddon felt like she found the answer when she wove her first piece. Interested in the process of deconstruction and reconstruction, she decided to cut up multiple existing photographs and weave them into new images.

Matthieu Bourel’s Bizarre Collages and GIFs Deconstruct Vintage Photographs

Thomas Spieler’s Cosmic Collages Juxtapose Human Culture with Nature

Maja Egli’s Collages of Women Mix Handmade and Digital Techniques

Dan Hillian’s Surrealist Drawings Inspired by Victorian Etchings

Studio Visit: Behind the Scenes of Lala Abaddon’s Woven Photography

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