Laura
Weiler

ISSUE NO. 15
October 11, 2023
March 18, 2024
Laura
Weiler
Wading, 2022
Printed Photos, 8 x 11 in.

Laura Weiler’s collage practice is deeply rooted in therapeutic exploration. Through her utilization of archival paper ephemera, Weiler demonstrates a focused vision, seamlessly cutting, tearing, and adhering a variety of elements. This process of recontextualization, transcending simple artifacts, serves as a window into the depths of her psyche. It is within this endeavor that she seeks to blend disparate imagery and philosophical nuances into harmonious compositions.

Secret Meeting Spot, 2020
Vintage Magazine & Ephemera, 10 x 12 in.

As co-founder of Pacific Northwest Collage Collective, I have loved fostering community and facilitating connections around the medium of collage. Collage also currently serves as a main anchor for my mental health and therapeutic release of creative energy and processing of my emotions.

Resting My Eyes, 2021
Vintage Ephemera & Printed Photo, 12 x 12 in.

I like working with vintage ephemera a lot, specifically old newsprint pre 1950’s with a nice patina and some slight crumble. National Geographic years mid-1950’s and earlier, the paper and ink saturation are really nice. I also enjoy ripping paper from older LIFE magazines, etc. as the paper also has a nice rip and saturation. As far as imagery goes I think I’m drawn to creating surreal landscapes and abstracted portraits. I seek out saturated colors and textures and crave a nice balance of abstraction, surrealism, and realism in my work.

Train, 2021,
Vintage Magazine & Ephemera, 9.5 x 11 in.
Stroll, 2022
Vintage Book, Magazine & Ephemera, 8 x 10 in.

I enjoy cutting, tearing, and gluing diverse materials, which helps me recontextualize both tangible objects and elements of my own inner world. The process of placement and rearranging of these materials appeals to my desire to create something new by unifying disparate images, philosophies, and moods. I mainly work with photomontage and antique ephemera, and my collages feature playful, surreal, and surprising narratives, portraits, and abstractions. My work is inspired by exploration, and I use a modern lens to synthesize vintage paper with rich colored paper and photographs, folding cinematic and photographic notions into my art.

Winter Ciggy, 2023
Vintage Magazine and Cardstock, 8 x 10 in.

Layering paper into playful, surreal, and moody narratives and abstractions drives the current themes of my work. I seek out images that are a bit emo and have a cinematic or painterly feel. Rich colors, textures and contrast also are strong themes.

Golden Girl,
Printed Photograph, Vintage Magazine & Cardstock, 8.5 x 11 in.

Laura Weiler is currently based in western Michigan, USA.

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For Your Viewing Pleasure

An additional selection of works by artists we have our eyes on.

Justin Hibbs’s practice picks apart the mechanics of spatial perception and representation, drawing upon social, political and aesthetic agendas encoded within architectural structures. Much of his work is a renegotiation of the visual language and ideological legacies of modernism, probing real and idealised notions of space. This is enacted through a uniquely multi-disciplinary approach that incorporates painting, drawing, sculpture and architectural interventions.

Bat-Ami Rivlin is a New York based sculptor. Rivlin utilizes found and surplus objects to create installation and sculptural works that explore conceptual spaces between object ontology, material function, and bodily characteristics. Rivlin received her MFA from Columbia University in 2019 and her BFA from the School of Visual Arts in 2016. She has exhibited in such venues as the Jewish Museum, Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Knockdown Center, Times Square Space, Bahnhof Gallery, M23 Projects, Latchkey Gallery and more.

Sylvie Fleury (b. 1961) is a contemporary Swiss artist whose installation, sculpture, and mixed media work deals with our sentimental and aesthetic attachments to consumerist culture. Emerging in the 1990s, Fleury’s early “shopping bag” installations laid the foundations for a body of work that became as provocative as it is playful. Fleury heralded a new artistic trend by subverting the codes of consumption, creating an interplay between fashion and art, while interrogating the relationship between desire and fetishism.

Ajit Chauhan (b. 1981) lives in the sanctuary city of San Francisco, California. His work has been exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery in London, White Columns NY, the Berkeley Art Museum, Asian Art Museum, UC Davis Museum, the Grimm Museum in Berlin, the SONS Museum in Kruishoutem, Belgium, Jack Hanley Gallery, Annarumma Gallery, SVIT Praha, and recently at the KMAC Museum in Louisville, Kentucky. He is this year’s recipient of the Tosa Studio Award.

Dash Snow was active during a distinct chapter in American history, the early aughts, as an artist in New York at the epicenter of a whole country’s anxiety. Snow spoke for himself and on his own terms, but he also spoke of and to a generation emerging out of a post-9/11 reality. His work articulates his reaction to this politically charged and socially paranoid time, recording his own unadulterated vision of his chosen existence.

Out and About

How and where to engage with collage in the world around us.
What to watch, read, and experience, as curated by the Collé team.

PLAY

Arcana Tarot Deck - Luis Martin

The Luis Martin Arcana Tarot Deck offers a unique take on the major Arcana, capturing 22 fundamental human experiences. Each of the cards is a collage representation of an archetype, marked with its element, planetary symbol, and Hebrew letter. The set includes a booklet with personal insights, a storage pouch, and a surprise crystal.  Limited to 40 signed and numbered decks.

READ

Carrie Schneider Unspools a Riddle about Photography and Cinema

During the pandemic, Carrie Schneider built a room-size camera with materials from Home Depot. After her solo exhibition, Sphinx, at MASS MoCA, she spoke with Rebecca Bengal about making a nearly eight-hundred-foot-long photograph and why she became obsessed by the actress Romy Schneider.

LISTEN

I Want U - Talia Goddess

Hailing from East Flatbush, Brooklyn, Talia Goddess is a 21-year-old multi-hyphenate creative: singer-songwriter, rapper, producer, DJ, model, and community leader. Although young, she has earned her spot as one of the most exciting new and upcoming artists on the scene.