DOWNTIME w/ Jacob Whibley

Artist workspace

1) Location?

Toronto, Ontario, Canada 🇨🇦

2) Years collaging? 

15+ years

3) What do you love and hate about collage?  

What I love about collage is that it is more than just a technique, it is a mindset, a way of approaching everything you do and make. Contemporary culture, fashion, food, architecture, music, writing, philosophy… all draw on and combine disparate elements into something new.

4) Biggest influences? 

Gordon Matta-Clark, Jenny Holzer, Philip Glass, Catherine Zask, Throbbing Gristle, Paula Scheer, Kurt Schwitters, William Gibson, Skinny Puppy, Jorge Luis Borges, Sophie Taeuber-Arp, El Lissitzky, Merzbow, Francis Picabia, Wire, Alexander Rodchenkoo, David Carson, Steve Reich, Louise Nevelson, Bruce Sterling, Joan Miró, Gottfried Böhm, Jim Carroll, Timothy Morton, James Gleick, Walter Gropius...

5) Analog Vs Digital? 

Analog. For me it is all about the deeply ingrained histories, gestures, and interactions embedded in and on the ephemera that I use. I feel you can't quite capture and replicate the above with digital compositions.

6) How do you spend your downtime? 

In varying degrees: reading, visiting galleries, playing pool, writing, hunting for records, cooking, going to the gym, cycling, studio visits, and spending time with my friends and family.

7) Three tips for someone starting out in collage? 

01. Just start making - the why will reveal itself over time. 

02. Don’t be precious with the materials that you use - there is always more out there.

03. Work on multiple pieces at a time.

8) Up and coming shows or projects we should know about? 

I’ll be in a group show at Campbell River Art Gallery (http://crartgallery.ca/) from March 7 to May 1, 2019. I’ll also have some work at Papier Art Fair (April 25-28) with Zalucky Contemporary (http://www.zaluckycontemporary.com/), and My second solo show with Zalucky Contemporary will be in 2020.

Links:

Website: jacobwhibley.com
Instagram: @vabrik
Gallery website: www.zaluckycontemporary.com/

Artwork Credits:

’a collective consensus‘
paper ephemera 
12" x 9. 1/4"
2014

‘a tapestry is a well worn analogy’
paper ephemera on panel
15” x 17”
2016

‘it is yesterday, it is still yesterday’
paper ephemera on board
9.25" x 12.25"
2019

‘Lissitzky + Miro walk out of a bar’
paper ephemera on panel
17” x 15”
2016

‘mass10 (.om)’
paper ephemera on panel
15” x 17”
2014

‘negligible contextual guidance’
paper ephemera on panel
12" x 15"
2013

‘pick pocket / smooth quotidian’
paper ephemera and squished pennies on panel
9” x 12” 
2018

‘remember me as a time of day’
paper ephemera, wood, rusty metal, acrylic paint
8" x 14"
2019

‘the naked countenance of earth’
paper ephemera, rust, steel, urethane on panel
9” x 12”
2018