Charles Wilkin is the Brooklyn-based artist behind these eerie, profound collages. He takes photographs with a vintage feel and adds layers of color and shape to create absolutely stunning pieces. The combination of vintage photos and modern elements in his work replicates the infinite and beautiful collision of the past and present we all experience daily. The things he finds most inspiring are the unexpected moments that seem insignificant or come out of nowhere, for him that is where the real magic is. Wilkin’s process is very random and spontaneous. His ideas are always evolving while working. When selecting images he is often drawn to the untold stories, but it can also be something simple like color. Collage is about pulling bits and pieces from everything around him and then reassembling it into something new and unexpected. The most striking element of these pieces might be his focus on the face, specifically his recurring motif of covering or twisting the faces we expect to see with what he actually creates. Facial expressions and body language are loaded with subtle messages and preconceived conclusions, and we all subconsciously look to these signals for meaning. So Charles often finds it necessary to selectively rearrange these messages simply as a means to redefine audience expectations. He hopes that by intentionally creating new and unseen gestures he is able to reveal moments of the indefinable nature of human behavior.
