Title: “Shapes, #1″
License: Creative Commons BY-SA-NC 3.0/US. Click for a 12″ printable version. Credits in the EXIF metadata.

I’m a collage artist. These are the modern (meaning, contemporary) collage artists that I enjoy the most.

- Julien Pacaud (“Negative Numbers”)
This is the man who single-handendly turned me from hating collage, to loving it. When I saw his sci-fi-like works I immediately recognized a certain “narrative” atmosphere. There is always more going on in Pacaud’s depicted surreal worlds than what “a single frame” would let go. Digging deeper, I found that he had studied filmmaking before becoming an illustrator. He’s a master, and very successful in the commercial illustration space.

“The Operator” – Julien Pacaud

- Kieron Cropper (“CUR3ES”)
If organized chaos means anything to you, then you will probably like CUR3ES’ works. A feast of colors and shapes, feels alienating at first look, but it’s growing on you fast. He’s my all time favorite visual artist!

“Vacation” by CUR3ES

- Jesse Treece (“Collage Art by Jesse”)
If there was a genre called “modern old collages”, Jesse Treece would be the king of it. An artists who knows how to properly marry vintage pictures with very new visual ideas.

“Mountains between us” by Jesse Treece

- Ben Giles (“ben///giles”)
Ben Giles is a 20 year old artist from the UK. He has worked on various styles, but I believe there’s a common feeling coming out of all his works: happiness. His collages are the opposite of what we’d call dark, there’s a certain optimism in his works, a feel-good approach.

“Mystery Jets” by Ben Giles

- Hugo Barros (“Mesineto”)
Mesineto’s work usually features a central object, which is then cut-up and composed in various ways. Some very interesting ideas emerge from piece to piece.

“Brothers” by Hugo Barros

- Bryan Olson (“Glass Planet”)
If CUR3ES had a twin brother, that would be Glass Planet. The style is similar, but more approachable. Maybe. Lovely artwork, very mystifying.

“Untitled” by Glass Planet

- Sammy Slabbinck (“Imass”)
If you’re into beautiful fashion-like vintage/illustration, that’s the artist to check out. He usually uses that matte blue color which makes most of his works identifiable.

“NYC Rain” by Sammy Slabbinck

- Laura Red­burn (“CardboardCities”)
Instead of cutting out whole objects and assembling them into a collage, this artist is usually cutting out textures and patterns, then re-shapes them, and finally uses them into her unique collages.

“Let Desire Be” by CardboardCities

- Beth Hoeckel (“Beth from Above”)
Beth puts the “point of view” theme into perspective, by making sure that the background is grand and spectacular.

“Solar Eclipse” by Beth Hoeckel

- And one of mine, “Amphitrite”:

UPDATE: A few more great contemporary collage artists that popped up lately:
- Caroline Alkire (“Child of the mountains”)

- Jordan Clark (“Unrad”)

- Alex Coll

- Djuno Tomsni

- Dessi Terzieva

- Sarah Eisenlohr

- Tareco

- Leigh Smith (“Cosmic Spread”)

- Mariano Peccinetti (“Trasvorder”)

- John Muir (“Humdrum Jetset”)

Title: “Picking Up Chicks on Planet Risa”
License: Creative Commons BY-SA-NC 3.0/US. Click for a 12″ printable version. Credits in the EXIF metadata.