Name (Real or Screename): Jacob Robert Whibley
URL (Blog, Website): www.jacobwhibley.com
Location (Where are you from?): Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Q: Describe your work in 10 words or less.
A: Ephemeral, nonobjective, pyrrhic, architectural, subtle, intricate, interstitial, machined, organic, cumulative.
Q: What do you like to work with (magazines, photographs, vintage)? Be
specific!
A: I've been collecting vintage paper from a variety of sources over
the last seven years. I mainly use old shipping forms and office ephemera because I enjoy the colours, textures and derailing the existing printed typographic structures into fragmented and graphic forms; but
I also use old books and envelopes.
Q: How long have you been creating collages and what made you start?
A: After three years of hoarding paper in boxes and suitcases I
finally got over my hesitation of not wanting to "ruin" the paper and
have actively been assembling for the last four years. As for what
made me start it's hard to tell; I knew I didn't want to create
magazine based collages. The end results needed to be abstract and
unrecognizable forms—meaning and shapes deciphered over time as the
body of work grew and the pieces had the ability to relate to each
other as a whole.
Q: Are you solely an artist, or do you work in another profession?
A: I work half and half—creating my art and doing illustration and
design work, with the occasional movie prop tossed into the mix.
Q: Do you have any formal art training?
A: Yes, I went to the Ontario College of Art & Design, where I studied
illustration and design.
Q: Explain your favourite techniques.
A: Sometimes I feel my collages get too rigid and linear so I'll use a torn or damaged piece of ephemera so as to offset that. I also find it useful to have a small piece of sandpaper lying around so I can smooth out curves.
Q: Describe your favourite piece ever created.
A: I would have to say it was my first series of cubes. Physically
crafting and staining the wood, constructing the forms, making the
incisions and creating the collages is hugely gratifying and has
opened up many new possibilities in my creative effort.
Q: What other artists do you admire?
A: there are a ton of local artists who incorporate paper into their
work that I admire like Nikki Woolsey, Jennifer Sciarrino, Jeff Garcia, and variety of historical figures, modernist typographers and architects.
Thanks Jacob!