Hollis' work is fantastic. I was so curious and so in awe when I first saw his work, which really isn't collage at all, but image transferring. But since it struck a chord with me, I know it will strike a chord with you!
Hollis Brown Thornton (it's my real name)
www.hollisbrownthornton.com, www.flickr.com/photos/hollisbrownthornton/
South Carolina
Q: Describe your work in 10 words or less.
A: 2D acrylic and pigment transfer.
Q: What do you like to work with (magazines, photographs, vintage)? Be specific!
A: A lot of my past work has used old family photographs, which I combine with scanned drawings in Photoshop. Recently, I've been creating installations and photographing these scenarios. I like to combine old, outdated electronics with devices I use on a daily basis.
Q: How long have you been creating collages and what made you start?
A: My work is not technically collage because I use the computer, really to escape a lot of the limitations I had with collage (such as the desire to combine delicate drawing with photographs). But the idea of collage, it is very much what I do, the combination of distant, diverse elements closely resembles what we currently experience in our day to day. I think it is why many young artists do collage. Plus, collage has energy. It is the punk rock of the art world.
Q: Are you solely an artist, or do you work in another profession?
A: Just an artist now. In the past, I've done web design and worked at galleries. I continue to install for a gallery, but it is only once a month.
Q: Do you have any formal art training?
A: I studied art at the University of South Carolina.
Q: Explain your favourite techniques.
A: The transfer process is my most obvious technique. It allows me to attach a photographic image to any surface that will take acrylic paint. I also scrub the surface of my paintings with sanding pads, combined with water, it looks very natural, like old eroded walls. When I draw with markers, I often draw on the opposite side of the paper, and let the ink bleed through. Or tape drawings I'm working on to a piece of computer paper and printing on them with an ink jet.
Q: Describe your favourite piece ever created.
A: Mine? I have no idea... I did one piece where I overlapped a photo of me and my dad on the beach with an aerial photo of elephants walking. It basically looks like little me playing with the miniature elephants. From another artist? Hmmmm... the Wesselmann kitchen assemblage collage pieces are some of my favorites.
Q: What other artists do you admire?
A: Famous or established: Twombly, Barney, Miranda July, David Gordon Green, Rothenberg, Basquiat, Kerry James Marshall, Peter Doig, Hirst, Nicolas Roeg, Kubrick, Johns, Rauschenberg, New York School Abstract Expressionists, Schnabel, Mark Bradford, Warhol, Wesselmann, Kevin Zucker, Hilary Harkness, Ian Davis.
Thanks Hollis!
![](http://www.notpaper.net/images/masters1.JPG")
aack!
his work is fantastic!!!
thanks for sharing.