Christopher's work is beautifully simple, he uses shape and pattern to his advantage in his works. What makes his work fantastic, though, is the textures he creates using paper, cardboard, and thread. It certainly makes me want to touch his artwork, because the textures are so perfectly visible even in just a scan or photograph. Almost, 3-Dimensional?
Name (Real or Screename): Christopher Bettig // the Mountain Label
URL (Blog, Website): themountainlabel.com
Location (Where are you from?): France > Connecticut > Baltimore >
Los Angeles
Q: Describe your work in 10 words or less.
A: Organic, colorful and a complete mess.
Q: What do you like to work with (magazines, photographs, vintage)? Be
specific!
A: I tend to work with everything and anything that is available. I use
a lot of "trash," paper I find on the street etc., but the main thing I
use is mail. Envelopes, catalogs, restaurant menus... really anything
that would be considered "junk mail" especially if it has patterns or
large areas of solid color. I like to work with what is put in my
environment versus me seeking things out, and I second life a lot of
things that would ordinarily just be thrown away.
Q: How long have you been creating collages and what made you start?
A: I started making collages in college as a way to collaborate with a
friend at the time who solely worked with paper. We made several books
together and I just kept it up since. Sometime in 1998 I think.
Q: Are you solely an artist, or do you work in another profession?
A: Just an artist.
Q: Do you have any formal art training?
A: Yes, I have a BFA in painting from the Maryland Institute College of
Art.
A: I like to think that my work is a low grade assemblage, or something like that... it's really about finding shapes & colors and then simply putting them together.
Q: Describe your favourite piece ever created.
A: My favorite collage was a 12" x 12" piece of found wood that was
stained very dark which I sanded down by hand unevenly and I sort of
formed piles of leaves or feather like shapes which were made from
various papers and each pile was organized by a color scheme. The piles
were intersected with various harsh cutting lines which also formed more
rigid geometric shapes in and around the more organic leaf piles. There
was a nice harmony between the geometric and the organic.
Q: What other artists do you admire?
A: So many... Charles and Ray Eames, Geoff Mcfetridge, Phoebe Washburn,
Jessica Stockholder, Christian Marclay, Phil Frost, Kara Walker,
Alexander Girard, Thomas Campbell, Olle Eksel, Saul Bass, Piet Mondrian.
Thanks Christopher!