“I feel as though I am just beginning to find the wonderful possibilities of collage”

-short background about you and your work

After studying at art college in Manchester UK, I worked as a TV graphic designer and animation designer in Manchester, London and Los Angeles.
This gradually developed into my specializing in illustration work in Europe and the USA working in publishing, advertising and on various animation projects. This eventually morphed into gallery work.

-Tell us detail about book coming out in the autumn and show in December

My book, entitled ‘Paperwork’ will be published by Black Dog Publishing and is a 176 page hardback book about my work over recent years. It will largely be images showing the diversity and development of my personal collage style.
It will have a text section by Matthew Sturgis with a Q & A section where Matthew and I discuss my influences, inspirations and approach to collage art.
The show will be at the Rebecca Hossack Gallery in the West End of London from the 2nd of December and titled ‘ Showing Off ’ It will be a mixture of new art pieces, animals, clothes and other ‘show offs’ plus the launch of my book..

-How would you describe you creativity?

Its all down to looking really…forever looking and seeing and trying to register things freshly….responding to nature, people, colours etc and being improvisational with the subject matter and the choosing of materials and allowing intuition to take place…forever changing and trying to be innovative with my materials

-How would you describe characteristic of your style which makes it difference from
others?

I attempt to ‘paint’ with the paper and allow different papers and materials to link through either with colour or content and merge together naturally almost undetected.
Hopefully with wit and humour and I make my pieces become 3D in areas to emphasise various points by folding and tearing thus making the overall feeling to be one of freedom and flow as oppose to sharp cutting.

-Is the any artist or creators that had a strong influence of your career?

Bob Dylan, Motown music, Robert Rauschenberg, Raoul Dufy, Karen Nicol, Vivienne Westwood, Lucinda Williams, Pedro Almodovar, Louise Bourgeois ,Felix Topolski, the list is endless and continuous and sometimes only momentary!

-What is your design identity?

Collage…a mixture of feeling and style …strong imagery.

-How did you start designing paper work? Why?

It was a logical development from my illustration work in which I was introducing collage.

-What is design for you?

Visually pleasing and functional.

-When do you most feel the presence of design around you?

It s everywhere around us from the night sky to leaves and flowers to bird flight to waves crashing in on a beach to autos on a freeway… …

-What are the source of inspiration in your design?

This varies from everyday objects, nature, people and their oufits and very often language or phrases and colours and how they affect each other. I visit a lot of art galleries and art fairs as well as design shows and I particularly enjoy flea markets and cutting edge fashion / design stores.

-Is there anything you want to make by paper next?

I am just starting a leopard for my show which is a fantastic subject, the scale is really exciting with it s power and the beautiful silhouette and then working out how to get the pattern of the spots to work overall within the image but revealing unexpected details on closer inspection

-What is the most difficult part of design?

Not getting it right…having a bad day.

-Does your design process always follow the same process? Tell us the process making paper work.

More or less, but not always in the same order however it always incorporates….idea…drawings…choosing materials…doing the work…changing it…persevering.

-What was your happiest moment in your work experience?

When things are really flowing, intuition and logic both working together happily .Also being offered my first one-man show by Rebecca Hossack pleased me enormously, it s always wonderful when someone believes in you !

-What is your vision for the future?

I feel as though I am just beginning to find the wonderful possibilities of collage, I am always discovering new things and being inspired afresh, I want to develop the use of paint with collage, maybe do some pieces on a really large scale, there are so many avenues to explore.
Although I have been in several talks about a possible show in Tokyo nothing has yet transpired and I would love to present my work Japan.

Interview & Text:Masaki Takida