A big part of music production in today’s age is sampling. Experimentation occurs when taking existing pieces of work and making it your own – completely turning the original upside-down. People are either familiar with the sample, or if they haven’t heard it, are scrambling throughout the internet playing it for their friends to see if they know what it is. It’s a formula that we all know too well.
Collage relates to this whole conception. Cutting and pasting images into a blank canvas, in turn bringing a completely new meaning to the big picture. Collagists are obsessed with imagery and love looking through pages of books to find the perfect images.
Jesse Treece, from Seattle, collages colorful worlds with an appealing contrast in foreground and background. His images take viewers outside of their realities while opening up their imagination by using images from our past. We talked to the artist about his process and what exactly makes his collages come to life.
Hi Jesse, how are you and what did you do today?
I’m doing well! Today I didn’t really go anywhere, just stayed indoors, listening to music and collaging. I got quite a lot of work done that I’m really happy with. That tends to be the pattern, I can go for a couple weeks without even picking up my scissors and then I’ll have a day or two where it just seems to flow out of me. I think I finished or made progress on about 10 pieces today.
What initially drew you towards collage as a medium?
I have always dabbled in drawing and making music but I never could seem to finish anything to my satisfaction. I kind of picked up collage by chance and without knowing much about the medium. I guess with the first few, though they seem crude to me now, it was exciting to be able to create something and say “this is finished”. The process of cutting, arranging, gluing also felt really natural to me, like something my hands just instinctively understood.
Can you walk us through your design process?
The first part of my process is kind of a “collecting” phase, where I flip through magazines/books and make clippings of pages that I think would make for good foreground or background images. I’m usually not looking for anything in particular during this stage, but if something really jumps out at me I probably start to formulate some rough ideas in my head. The second phase is the arranging, which involves more intricate cutting and the sometimes tedious trial and error of seeing what works with what. I tend to be a perfectionist so if some combination doesn’t spark excitement in me I’ll ditch it until something comes along that does. Next, the gluing is probably the quickest and most satisfying part for me. I’ve got all the pieces layed out just the way I want at that point (I make tiny marks with a pen so I know where everything goes) and it’s just a matter of making sure everything gets put down the way I’ve envisioned it.
Of course this process can vary greatly. Sometimes all of the stages come together astonishingly quickly and I’ll have a piece knocked out in 10 to 15 minutes. On the flip side I’ve had works that have taken months to complete, just waiting for that one element that makes it feel right.
Many of the collages that you create show people staring off into the larger picture / landscape. Can you elaborate on this juxtaposition?
I’m not sure, I might have stolen this style from Beth Hoeckel haha, her work is incredible! I like to create surreal and unusual landscapes but I also want there to be a human element to it. I think this technique allows me (or the viewer) to feel like I’m a part of this strange world, it makes it a bit more personal. I also like experimenting with perspective and it gives everything a more 3-dimensional feel.
Can you tell us about your collaboration with Goofbutton? What’s the most rewarding part about working with Jeffrey Meyer?
I loved collaborating with Jeffrey Meyer/Goofbutton! He’s one of my favorite artists and a huge inspiration to me when I first started discovering the possibilities of collage, so it was incredibly flattering that he asked me to do something with him. It was also a new sort of challenge for both of us since we had a finite number of images to work with for each piece and it allowed me to try out some techniques that I had never thought of using before. It was also sort of freeing not to have to choose the images, it forced me to look deeper for interesting and exciting combinations. I think towards the end the pieces became a little more esoteric, as some of the combos didn’t give us much to work with, but overall I’m really happy with how they turned out. And it’s fascinating seeing the direction both of us took, sometimes you can barely tell we’re working from the same materials.
How did the collaboration with Jeffrey start?
I was browsing through Society6 one day and saw that Jeffrey had posted a new collage named “Treece”. I had to do a double take, I couldn’t believe it. I was a huge fan of his but wasn’t aware that he was into my stuff also. I think I initially contacted him about buying the original ( which I now own and it’s beautiful!) and that’s when he brought up the idea of working together on some sort of collaborative project.
You seem to have created a handful of collaged album covers, do these artists usually give you a theme to stick to or do you have control of the imagery?
I’ve been really fortunate to work with musicians and bands that I love and who haven’t tried to mold or shape my work in any way. I do listen to the music beforehand and try to create an image that captures the feel of what the artist is trying to convey musically. Malcom Lacey from Arrange just sent me the album “Plantation” that I designed the art for, it’s beautiful! I get a kick out of seeing something that I made coupled with such incredible music.
Are you looking to experiment with any other mediums outside of collage?
I don’t know, maybe paint? I just altered a record cover of the soundtrack to the film “A Star Is Born” using permanent marker and tempera paint. Nothing too difficult, just filling in space really, but I enjoyed the process and will probably be experimenting with that some more. I would also love to write and record one great song before I die.
What are you currently working on and what do you have planned for the rest of the year?
Right now I’m finishing up collaborations with 2 incredible artists, Agogwe and Delilah Jones and later this month I will have a brand new piece on display at the launch show for Artistic.ly at the Loading Bay Gallery in London. Delilah and I also have a collaborative book project that is ongoing and being passed to different artists around the world to add collage elements to. I have a few other projects that aren’t really solid yet, but I’m excited about the possibilities for the new year!
