Gallery Hijinks Artist: Sebastian Wahl

Putting my creative process and experience into words is extremely trying for me. Ironically though, writing this artist statement and making collages are kindred activities. In both cases the first step is to assemble all the ingredients that will best convey my message and ultimately organize a collection of parts into a cohesive whole.

The notion of order in chaos is endlessly fascinating to me.

I love being the architect of psychedelic landscapes by arranging images that I find and isolating them from their reality by cutting them out and injecting them into my reality when I glue them down.

In my choices of images and other mediums you will find, hand made papers of all kinds, glow in the dark stickers, and even glitter. I love images of nature, architecture, people, animals, spiritual and religious causes like Sadhuism, Shamanism, and modern and ancient tribes - just to mention some of the subject matter that intrigues me.

In 2006 I discovered resin. I immediately realized that this would be a great addition to my work. That autumn, I made my first collage using resin and adopted a process where I pour a two-part mixture over the collaged surface and let it harden over night. I then add more images and pour resin again and let it harden once again. I do this until I have between 9 and 14 layers with images and papers, etc. between each of those resin layers. This lends a whole other dimension that projects real shadows within the collage. Having the whole piece encapsulated in resin also protects the collaged materials in an amazing way from degrading over time.

Through my work, I aspire to create wonder and to enhance mindfulness, concentration, tranquility and insight in myself as well as my audience. I hope that when others view my collages it helps them to interpret life positively and to bring that energy and positivity with them out in to our world.