Downtime Interview w/ Allan Bealy
“Personally, I see it as a paint substitute. I can build a story with color and texture as I would paint, with each cut having the added benefit of its own DNA.”
— Allan Bealy, 2026
1) LOCATION?
I’m from Montreal, based in Brooklyn, New York 🇺🇸
2) HOW MANY YEARS HAVE YOU BEEN WORKING WITH COLLAGE?
I made my first collages in art school in the early 70’s although it wasn’t really an important part of what I did back then. When I moved to New York I worked as an art director in advertising and a graphic designer and I managed to work collage and mixed media into some of the projects I was involved in back then. It is only in the last 15 years, after I retired, that it has become the focus of my practice.
3) WHY IS COLLAGE AN APPEALING MEDIUM?
It’s important to me because it can be applied to so many different aspects of your work. It can be a starting off point, a maquette to something larger or a doodle in a note pad. It is the perfect medium for investigating color and form or sketching out a quick thought. Personally, I see it as a paint substitute. I can build a story with color and texture as I would paint, with each cut having the added benefit of its own DNA. There can be a palimpsest of meaning and discovery in each chosen cut that can never be as apparent in a drop of paint.
4) WHO ARE THE BIGGEST INFLUENCES?
Earth and entropy. If I needed to name someone I prefer to use the word inspiration rather than influence. Rauschenberg, Jim Dine, Nick Cave (both of them!), Peter Blake and Eduardo Paolozzi come to mind but there are dozens more.
5) ANALOG VS DIGITAL, WHAT ARE THE PROS & CONS OF EACH?
I am most certainly an analog kind of guy. I have to have my hands on the materials I use to build an image. Texture, smell, the nitty gritty.
If you’re an illustrator I can see the benefit of digital and some wonderful animated pieces have been done on screen, but to me it all looks like it lives in a box, not in the world.
6) WHAT ARE THREE TIPS FOR SOMEONE STARTING OUT IN COLLAGE?
Understand your materials would be the first thing. It seems counterintuitive, but the closer you get to understanding the qualities inherent in paper, the more successful you will be in having it respond the way you intended it to. Old archival paper can do some amazing tricks with staining and distressing and it’s all worth investigating. The same thing applies with glue… I use a lot so it really adheres and it’s a fair fight when i try to rip it off and do something a little different. It all makes for some interesting effects.
Spontaneity is certainly of primary importance but understand that while everything is a learning experience, everything isn’t a masterpiece. It doesn’t need to be posted but it does need to be understood and applied to the next attempt.
Look at what everyone is doing and then go somewhere else.
7) HOW DO YOU SPEND YOUR DOWNTIME?
A lot of walking and reading and hanging out cooking in the kitchen. I try to catch a lot of exhibitions in the city and there’s always a museum that i haven’t been to for a while. So no lack of things to do.
8) WHERE DO YOU SEE YOUR ART PRACTICE HEADING?
At this point in my career probably just expanding on ideas and directions that I’ve pursued over the last few years. The longer I work on a series, the more nuanced and granular my explorations become.
‘Bauble’ Analogue Collage on card, 11 x 14 in, 2026
9) WHICH THREE ARTISTS SHOULD WE CHECK OUT?
Peter Dowker @peterdowker
Patti Robinson @pattirobinsonart
Leslie Seigel @shouldermatters
10) WHAT MUSIC ARE YOU LOVING RIGHT NOW?
I’ve been jumping around between The Lounge Lizards, anything by Eric Dolphy and Glenn Gould plays Bach, all ten volume
11) ANY UP-AND-COMING EXHIBITIONS OR PROJECTS WE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT?
I’ve been slowly compiling a book of my recent work and that’s taken a lot of my time. I’ve also been collaborating with Matthew Rose @maybemistahcoughdrop on a book project in Paris and that should be a lot of fun. I was just contacted by a Spanish publisher about using one of my old collages as a book cover so that’s something I’m looking forward to. I love when new projects turn up unexpectedly. Really though, I’m pretty lazy about marketing myself. If something drops at my feet i’ll pick it up, otherwise I don’t go to too much effort.
See more 👀
Instagram: @allan.bealy
allanbealy.blogspot.com
