Ian

Tothill

Ian Tothill is a musician and artist whose artistic practice is comprised of impromptu analog collages that exude an air of spontaneity. Central to Tothill's creative practice is the concept of repetition. In his compositions, Tothill utilizes burned paper to construct vortexes of futurism and nostalgia, imbued with a sense of temporal accumulation.

I started making collages during the lockdown in 2020, and it quickly became my safe space. It’s now an absorbing way of exploring visual ideas. I love the accessibility of the medium, and the idea that anybody can make a collage.

Ian Tothill

Ian is both new to collage and revisiting his youth. For several years in the early 1980s making collages was a way of fitting together his love of surreal images, the political commentary of John Heartfield, Hannah Hoch and Peter Kennard, the Dada movement, and a DIY punk ethic of anybody can have a go. Life and responsibilities intervened and the piles of magazines were set aside for decades. A global pandemic gave him hours of time at home and no venues to play music in (his regular work). He made a picture for a zine his daughter was making, then a few cards for people. He became reconnected to the methodology of being able to make pictures without traditional or technical art skills.

Instagram was a useful virtual space to see the astonishing work of global collage makers, to join in the prompts and challenges set by wonderful people around the world. His collages started to be accepted for virtual and physical exhibitions and he had his first solo collage show in 2021. His personal style combines photographic and graphic elements, hints of narrative and characterization, observations and commentary, abstract and figurative, anything goes, it's all about the process.

Courtesy of Ian Tothill

Ian Tothill is currently based in Bradford, United Kingdom.