Why is collage art evergreen? I'd say it was because growing up it was a way to create a unique amalgamation of our favorite images. In the days before Pinterest, when we had to cut pictures from magazines to save them individually for future inspiration, what else was there to do with the "scraps" than piece them together to create a masterpiece?
Whether it be for a class project, a personal mood board, or a way to weave together inspiration, we've all had the opportunity to create a collage. However, five artists on Instagram share the highest quality collages that are inspiring, psychedelic, stimulating, invigorating, and, most importantly, nostalgic.
When it comes to minimalist analog collages that feature bold colors and lots of florals, Heather is the reigning queen. Her designs often stick to pops of pinks, blues, metallics, and glitter. In one of her story highlights, she also mentions “The black aesthetic dominates my work. As a black female, I draw inspiration from my personal experiences, observations, and curiosities.” While her Instagram account is flawless, Heather works full-time in healthcare sales, and her Instagram account is a creative outlet. Her works are feminine, floral, and funky, with faces starring florals from the eyes up a musician transmitting hearts out of his trumpet.
To say that Aina's Instagram is psychedelic would be doing her a disservice. Her account is filled to the brim with rainbows spewing from objects, UFOs, and eyeballs distorted in more ways than one. Once you start scrolling through her feed, you won't be able to stop. Each post is different from the last, but they all have an underlying galactic theme. Your creativity will be unleashed the second you lay eyes on the blonde bombshell draped in a cactus textured dress or when you find the oversized floating lips drinking from an icy oasis in the middle of what looks like Mars. I can't make these up.
Much like how Picasso found a way to recreate the human figure through design, Jens Wortmann distorts faces through stunning collages. His specialty is taking a singular face and collaging it to appear as if there were multiple faces in one. His posts consistently make you look twice until you realize that what you're seeing is intentional and profoundly creative. Jens' works are typically more muted in color with pops of reds, yellows, and greens.
Analog collage artist, Kellette Elliott, features collages typically centered around a circular landscape and vintage-inspired photographs. Her pieces beckon a sense of wanderlust and imagination. She has a BFA in Drawing and Design and an MS in Art Education, and her background shines through in her designs as they are thoughtful, well-composed, and often tell a strong visual story. One of the fascinating things about her page is that she often shares the inspiration behind some of her pieces in her highlights. A few of her works were created after her mother passed away, and you can genuinely feel the emotions seeping from these specific collages; and she goes on to explain that the circular shapes are created to make the subjects of her art appear as if they were in a different dimension.
Kate is a mastermind of minimalistic geometric designs. Her layouts are sleek and clean and often feature vivid bright colors. As you scroll through Kate's feed, you'll find sections of different themes, the most recent being elegantly dressed figures topped with an animal's face for the head. Keep scrolling, and you'll find clusters of butterflies paired in variations of ways. Her feed has over 3,000 individual posts, which means your thumb might not even be able to keep up with the endless creativity. Seriously, the inspiration is never-ending, and it's fantastic.
