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Collage on plexiglass, 36 x 48 in.
Joseph Staples' work is an exploration of the psychological interstices where separation and connection converge, a concept inspired by Thomas Hirschhorn's notion that "every separation is a link." Staples engages in a ritualistic practice, reiterating images as mantras over periods that span up to a decade, a process that not only evolves the artwork but catalyzes personal transformation. His technique of enlarging, cutting, and meticulously assembling prints onto wood panels is a tangible expression of his practice. Staples, however, is critical of the complacency he perceives in contemporary collage, seeking instead to infuse the medium with the innovation he finds lacking, thereby challenging the viewer's perceptions and redefining the boundaries of collage as a reflective and transformative art form.
Collage on panel, 36 x 48 in.
"I think about everything as one thing added to another and what their relationship is. Whatever kind of work I am making that’s the attitude. Thomas Hirschhorn said that every separation is a link, so love is in that line that separates things. That line is psychological rather than artistic. That line is where the real juice is."
Joseph Staples
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Scanned collage (photographs, painted meat) in glass on steel shelf, 32 x 42 in.
"Collage is very promiscuous; each work using a picture only once and then moving on. My practice is based on a long term relationship with an individual or series of images. I use these individual images over and over again to make work. Some result in a couple pieces, a few images I have been involved with for almost 10 years and dozens of large works. The images get to be like mantras you repeat. If the images stay the same, you have to change. It’s been the best way for me to grow."
Collage on panel, 29 x 39 in.
Collage, 7”x 7 in.
"I mentioned that I usually use the same images over and over again and they typically come from a single image or a series of images in a book. I make a stack of copies of the original for source material. I like to sit down and work with an image for a long time, maybe a few weeks. Then I take the pile and edit it down to one or two."
Collage on panel, 42 x 60 in.
"There is an absence of innovations that have happened in painting, photography, film, or any other field of visual arts. It’s made the practice boring, predictable. You hear the comments of the death of painting, the crisis of painting, and it pushes the field and work forward. I feel this lack of introspection about the state of collage as a field is a problem. We are complicit in this. If we love collage the way we believe we do, It’s existential that we take even the possibility of stagnation seriously. I think it should be to anybody who fell in love with the form to begin with."
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Digital image, Dimensions variable
Joseph Staples was born in Cut Knife, Saskatchewan. He is currently based in Vancouver, Canada.
For Your Viewing Pleasure
Pedro Reyes is a Mexican artist. He uses sculpture, architecture, video, performance and participation. His works aims to increase individual or collective agency in social, environmental, political or educational situations. He has exhibited internationally, and is represented by Lisson Gallery.
Matthew Larson’s practice involves intricately embedding singular strands of fiber into sewn velcro panels to create seamless tapestry-like surfaces. Through controlled use of line, Larson achieves precise patterns and striations of color and texture. Optically, these works appear to follow a traditional warp and weft structure, but are built on a single plane.
Anna Virnich’s practice centers around textile based tableaus which surfaces must be understood as membranes and as such in a state of constant inter-penetration. The manipulative and oftentimes fetishising treatment of materials and a latent presence of the corporeal manifests in objects, whose formal composition spans from symbolic exotism to stringently calculated image construction.
Since 2007, Jonah Freeman and Justin Lowe have been collaboratively drawing on a series of historical and fictional narratives to create large-scale, mazelike architectural installations. Their explorations of architecture as immersive sculpture are realized by reimagining dystopian visions, psychotic episodes, and the workings of drug-related subcultures.
Ryan Mrozowski, born in Indiana, PA in 1981, currently lives and works between Hudson and Brooklyn, NY. He received his MFA from the Pratt Institute, NY in 2005, and his BFA from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 2003.
Out and About
What to watch, read, and experience, as curated by the Collé team.
LISTEN
Crime Seed by Meditations on Crime
Meditations on Crime is a multimedia project helmed by songwriter and producer Harper Simon. It comprises a book — featuring essays from artists and writers like Miranda July and Ben Okri, and visual art by the likes of Raymond Pettibon, Cindy Sherman, and Tracey Emin — and a record, featuring original music by Gang Gang Dance, Julia Holter, and many more.
VISIT
Raymond Saunders: Post No Bills
On view at David Zwirner’s 519 and 525 West 19th Street galleries in Chelsea and Andrew Kreps’s gallery at 22 Cortlandt Alley in Tribeca, this expansive presentation—curated by Ebony L. Haynes—spans four decades of American artist Raymond Saunders’s work.
READ
Puma — The Graphic Heritage
Over the course of the years, PUMA has written its own unique design history. In this book, the graphic evolution of the global brand is reconstructed piece by piece: from the first letterhead of the early postwar years. With nearly 1,000 rare illustrations, readers gain remarkable insight into the special relationship between sport and design.
