“Old and new, intellect and feeling, humor and solemnity.
Everything is cut and pasted together into an unconnected connection.”
- Barometern
Edvard Derkert has been creating collage & photo montage art off & on since he was a child growing up in Stockholm, Sweden, originally inspired by the images in Life magazine. During the 1960′s & 70′s Edvard put his visual art on the back burner while he focused on expressing himself musically. “I wanted to be a great guitar player and saxophonist but the more I practiced my scales and arpeggios the less interesting playing became. My love for music wasn’t reciprocated and I more or less stopped playing music,” he explains.
Another Swim For Mr. Jones
The Ghost of Magritte
In the late 1980′s Derkert returned to collaging with renewed vigor and, following a few exhibitions and sales, decided that collage was where he wanted to focus his attentions & efforts. In the 1990′s, Edvard bought an Amiga computer & began experimenting with digital art & animation. A few years later, he swapped the Amiga for a Macintosh & began using Photoshop. Lately, Edvard Derkert‘s collage art is created almost exclusively on the computer. “I have by now almost abandoned paper collage – but the collage spirit lives on,” he says.
Big Brother
On Line
Recently, Derkert has created a brilliant & bizarre collage animation based on his series “The Terrible State of Santé“, shown here in two parts. “Santé emerged almost by itself, like a by-product from my daily art work-outs,” says the artist. “The scenes from the world of Santé are mostly grim and dismal. I guess that’s in line with the present taste of the media audiences.”
Here are some fantastic contemporary collages that I’ve been wanting to share for awhile now. I’m always on the lookout for brilliant, innovative collage artists (among others) to feature here at PaperStreet Supplies. Since I can’t run a full feature on every talented artist I encounter, I’ll be posting occasional “eclectic collections” highlighting singular selections from several of these fantastic collage artists in both digital and traditional mediums. Here are a few of my favorites collected over the years from DeviantArt. Click each image to view more collage artwork by each artist.