RAYASTRE @rayastre_

August 2023

The Collages are all transparent and made of 19th century prints of etchings, transferred to cellotape. The process of transfer is fully done by hand- careful washing of the paper, so the ink is left attached to the transparent tape. This manual process is time consuming, but necessary in my creative process. Often parts of the print are erased in this process. For me this adds to the quality. I always like degenerated objects, art, music, better than when they would have been perfect, as new. The rawness, the feel of the work is equally important as the content.

Rayastre is an Indonesian artist and musician currently residing in India. His inspiration lies in mysticism and transcendental experiences through meditation and entheogens which he communicates through his art. He is active as musician and visual artist since 1987 and has published 130 music titles on vinyl LP, often combined with original art. Rayastre is also the art-director of avant-garde publisher Astres d’Or. 

ASHLEY REAKS @ashleyreaks

July 2023

Homesick Part 2 (The Emotional Wilderness Of Childhood) - Collage 25 x 25 cm. 'Home' or the lack of it features a lot in my work. I was kicked out of home at 15 after suffering years of abuse at the hands of my narcissistic and sadistic father, and have had 81 addresses in the subsequent 40 years. The top three figures at the top left of the image are me (aged 7, when the abuse began), my dad and my mum as they looked at that time. Behind all appearances we're all (emotionally) starving to death in the bleak and loveless environment of the bricks and mortar of 'home' , and to some degree we're all prisoners there. Some haven't been so lucky as to have survived and their bodies are strewn on the ground. An expressionless crowd looks on, disinterested and indifferent to the suffering in front of their eyes. The main two characters seem to be the abusive father figure, whose gas mask suggests all kinds of unspeakable punishments, and the obedient 'death child' and/or 'willing victim' who in spite of being terrified, goes along with his abuser's demands, partly to keep himself 'safe' and partly due to the 'Stockholm syndrome' effects of trauma bonding, where the victim feels trust and affection towards his captor, as it's all he's ever known. 

CHRISTIAN COLLINS @bluespectralmonkey

June 2023

Gratitude and greetings to all from the very messy collage laboratory! I’m honored to be the very first artist of the month! I felt I should write a little bit explaining my passion for collage art… And I like, combining lots of words as well ha ha. 

As a voracious infovore and enthusiast of the visual, collage offers me endless adaptability and specialization of concept and novelty. A trailblazer of countless magazine mountains since 1998, I still prefer to express my visions strictly with paper by hand. I’ve an insatiable zeal for categorization and a genetic affinity for artistic abilities. 

My hyperspecialized pallette of vibrant optical artifacts are both the inspiration and instruments of my photographic imagination, surgically reconstructed with collectible confetti.  My neoteric, lavish and indelibly distinct collages are a meticulous duality of psychotropic jazzy pizzazz and dizzyingly cerebral, explicit and allegorical symbology.  Keen peepers will spy a covert subtext evident behind the dazzling iconographic bonanza, a subliminal mythology, an optimistic atlas of patience, and a steadfast memoir of phenomenology.  I hope my art inspires you to be the architects of your dreams!

Christian C Collins — Portland OR

For more content from my life as a polymath, check the linktree in my bio for extra art, merch, music and more! Plus ulterior updates from the omniscient incognito masterminds of my executive function, Orange Brain Unlimited.