Name: Forestter Cobalt
Born / Based in: Born/grew up in Colorado, currently living in Chicago, Illinois.
Making art since: Since I was a child. As a teenager, I started making collages primarily using photocopiers. I was inspired by how prevalent this type of art was in the punk and indie music world, from album covers to show flyers to zines.
What’s one thing you’d like people to know about you that doesn’t show up in your work? I collect new and vintage Japanese vinyl monster toys.
Folk Horror, 2024
Which three tools, materials, or rituals are essential to your practice? For ages, I’ve been using an old, relatively heavy X-ACTO knife that I had taken from one of my father’s workbenches. I have piles of vintage children’s books and comics. I’ve learned I have a need for a quiet atmosphere while working, unless it’s the background noise of a podcast.
What makes a work unmistakably yours? I think it’s a combination of an examination of childhood combined with mystery, but this is probably better answered by an observer of my work.
Pleasure, 2025
Can you walk us through your process—from idea to finished piece? I often look at illustrations in terms of color and in terms of shape simultaneously, partially informed by my experience with screen printing, and I weigh which aspect appeals to me more for whichever collage I’m working on. I might start a piece inspired by a painter, a filmmaker, or music. I might explore an abstract visual concept. In some of my simpler techniques, it’s as if I’m collecting and cataloging. I alternate between wanting clean and readable, and busy and chaotic. Dialogue and characters aren’t important in my work; it’s more about effect without cause, moments of apparent stasis. I like the idea of taking the comic book format and working against its intended usefulness.
After Hours, 2025
Catalog of Mishaps, 2024
Once I’ve cut out enough interesting shapes, I map them out onto a piece of paper, add a comic book border that I’ve stripped down, and then spread the shapes to fit inside of it. I may fill in missing parts of images for visual cohesion. Inevitably, I add more shapes and then fill in background areas. In between, I add additional borders, and then glue it all down. The entire process can be laborious and painstaking.
The collage depends on what is fascinating to me at the time, so the technique is mutable.
Days Without End, 2024
House of Mystery, 2023
What’s something that’s been influencing your work lately—an image, sound, idea, or feeling? The country seems like it’s entering a dark period, so I’ve become far more conscientious about using black.
What’s the latest project you’ve been working on, and what excites you about it? I’m currently working on a series focused about structures of buildings, and exploring concepts of liminality.
What’s your personal definition of collage?
Subverting someone else’s original visual intention.
Learn more about Forestter Cobalt on Instagram
One Million Years, 2024
The Cave, 2024
An Echo, 2024
