Name: Trevor Sloan
Born / Based in: I was born in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. I’m now based in Toronto.
Making art since: I’ve been interested in the arts for a long time. I started taking piano lessons when I was 9. I started writing poetry and playing in bands in high school. But I didn’t start making collage art on a regular basis until 2017. I still think of myself as a newbie.
What’s one thing you’d like people to know about you and that doesn’t show up in your work?: I like being in nature. I love swimming in lakes and oceans. I love campfires and wood burning fireplaces. I like humus and pickled eggplants. I make music. My idea of a chill night is sitting down with a bowl of popcorn, a glass of wine and a good movie.
Which three tools, materials or rituals are essential to your practice?: Scissors, glue and vintage magazines/books (preferably from the 1950s – 70s).
What makes a work unmistakenly yours? I’m always struggling to find the balance between the natural and abstract, between the revealed and hidden. So hopefully that balance is something that comes out in my work. I also like collages that are a bit mysterious and strange. Vintage materials, elements of nature and ghostly figures are also common threads.
Can you walk us through your process-from idea to finished piece? I always start by laying out a red and white gingham tablecloth over an old wood dining table (which I inherited from my grandparents). I set out my working materials and potential collage pieces. I always have a huge bin of rough scraps/fragments beside me. In general, I do not have an idea of what I’m going to create ahead of time. I usually start by flipping through old books and magazines until I find something that excites me. I look for either a good background or some kind of image to build the collage around. I play around with other pieces until I have an idea of the colours and general structure. Then I will start glueing pieces down in an order that makes sense (knowing what I want to be left revealed). Lately, I’ve been trying to cover up or augment the key images so they are significantly different than the source material. I want my collages to feel new and unique. Sometimes I will end up completely burying an image that I initially thought would be the focal point. Near the end of the process, I like to go through the scrap pile and use those pieces to further modify the piece.
What’s something that’s been influencing your work lately-an image, sound, idea, or feeling? Vinyl record covers. The use of blank space. Clouds, colourful shapes, scraps. Art books about painters from the 1600s and 1700s. Vintage illustrated kids’ books.
What’s the latest project you’ve been working on, and what excites you about it? I’ve recently been working on a series of collages I call “Life Cycles.” My friend gave me a book from her childhood (A Child’s Garden of Verses, illustrated by Hilda Boswell). I’ve been building collages on top of pages from this book. These pieces are loosely tied together visually by the use of a graph paper oval shape in the center of the collage, layered with different faces or objects or birds and fragments of other images depicting the different stages of life (childhood, adulthood, old age).
I also recently released an album of music that is available on vinyl. This was my first time pressing music on vinyl so I was pretty excited about that. The cover is one of my collages.
Who are three artists you think more people should know about?
Jack Felice (@jackfelice) – He is one of my favourite collage artists. I love the images he works with, his compositions and his use of blank space.
Lindsey Boss (@lindsey_boss) – Another one of my favourite collage artists. I love the inclusion of nature and gems (literally) in her work. Her collages evoke deep emotion, nostalgia and lost beauty.
Rafael Goldchain – I recently discovered the photography of Rafael Goldchain from an exhibit at the AGO in Toronto. In particular, I really like the photographs from his Nostalgia for an Unknown Land project.
What’s your personal definition of collage? For me it is simple: different pieces of paper glued together into a new image. When a collage comes together in a way that pleases your eyes, it feels like magic.
Learn more about Trevor Sloan on Instagram and listen to his music here.
