We live in the age of collage. The Internet has brought with it a virtual deluge of imagery and media from the past — easily manipulated, combined, rearranged — or, if you prefer, “recontextualized.” Combined with the advent of Instagram, it has never been easier to share and consume a steady diet of cut-ups.
Which is not to say that everyone with an iPhone and an app is an artist. But it is an entry point to the work of Kalen Hollomon — this month’s artist for The Box at The Standard, Hollywood (and a former Standard valet, no less!). Hollomon introduces an unexpected twist to the medium by bringing collage elements into everyday life and transforming scenes via images that he shares (and sells) on Instagram. The technique was born out of constraint: after moving to New York a couple years ago, he found himself without a studio. The on-the-go collages were his way of making work by any means.
Hollomon’s is a brilliant and timely innovation, one that seamlessly merges high and low to maximum WTF effect, and subversively undermines our ordered sense of reality. Seemingly effortless, a closer look reveals a methodical, canny eye for composition, a surrealist bent, and a cutting wit. The result has been a steady buzz in both the Art and Fashion worlds, and 70,000+ followers who get a kick out of his trickery.
While Kalen was back in LA recently to install his work in The Box, we asked if he would shoot some of his signature collages in and around The Standard, Hollywood and The Standard, Downtown LA. He obliged. Get weird with his snaps below, follow him on Instagram (@kalen_hollomon), and if you happen to be in LA, be sure to check out his sexy/strange installation at The Box.
