Dan Zdilla / Artist Statement  

Collage is the ideal medium for taking an existing image and removing it’s original context, thereby altering the visual connotation. With my collage and decollage work I have sought to further deconstruct the original imagery into fundamental scraps and bits of formal elements such as color, value and texture. I reassemble these elements into new images; often representational and sometimes allegorical. Although my technique is essentially ‘painting’ with paper, no actual paint is used, only cut and glued paper. I enjoy reflecting on the history and provenance inherent in each scrap. With varying conspicuousness each shred carries some of its former meaning and contributes to the depth and meaning of the new image.

As far back as I can remember, National Geographic magazines have excited my imagination. They are a rich visual record of the natural and cultural world. Using them exclusively for my collages imposes a creative constraint while being full enough of lush imagery to give me what feels like endless possibilities in creation. I never tire of flipping through thousands of pages to find just the right piece.