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InspirationArt & Culture

Artist Derek Gores recycles magazines, maps and data for collage portraits

After kicking off his art career creating t-shirt designs for Grateful Dead, Van Halen and Lenny Kravitz, New York native, Derek Gores moved into alternative media. Recycling magazines, maps, data, and other found materials, he creates lush collage portraits on canvas that reveal themselves the further you stand away from them.

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Derek Gores' mixed-media collage portrait of a woman's face created from magazines, maps and found materials, displayed on a street wall with layered text and graphics above it

For the upcoming Moniker International Art Fair, the artist will focus on the drama, surprise, and interaction of the creative process, working live on a collage piece with materials piled up and ready to be transformed.

Part of the Pop Surrealism and New Contemporary Movements, his collage work is exhibited with Thinkspace Gallery in LA, Parlor Gallery in Asbury Park, ArtClubFrance in Paris, Lumas in Berlin and more. "I like using stuff that isn't supposed to be art. Data and leftovers. Part of the fun is aiming for an organic living being, but making her out of linear, designed materials. I use some of the Dada and surrealist techniques, keeping myself partly blind to the combinations until they are on the canvas. Then we try to figure out where the story wants to go", explains Gores.

Collectors and clients of the artist include Playboy, Lucasfilm, Prada, Rinascente, E! Entertainment and Madonna, as well as hotels and other beautiful properties. Discover more at derekgores.com.

Derek Gores creates a collage portrait on a round table surrounded by layered magazines and materials, with a large face composed of black, white and red torn paper on the wall behind.
Vibrant collage portrait of a woman's face composed of recycled magazines, maps, data and found materials in shades of blue, red, yellow and white
Derek Gores creates a colourful collage portrait live on stage using recycled magazines and found materials, surrounded by performers in white wigs and theatrical styling.
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