The Satirical Collage of Adam Wynn
Let me introduce you to Birmingham’s pioneering Collage Maker: Adam Wynn. Multi-disciplinary Artist, Founder of Birmingham Collage Collective and co-founder of Collage Zine Triple One Five, Adam is taking the Birmingham Art scene by storm. His satirically political yet critical works scrutinise British politics and culture, allowing us to access heavy topics through an authentic and subconscious form of cut and paste, all whilst having a good chuckle.
Your video piece ‘Masquerade’, which featured as a part of our SQUASH exhibition, uses footage of Tommy Cooper and his impersonator John Hewer to create a kind of hybrid of the two, which is quite unnerving. What was the process like creating it?
The inspiration came from reading ‘Always Leave Them Laughing’ (Tommy Cooper’s biography). People are often surprised when I tell them this, but he never actually wrote a joke himself. Maybe it was the ‘done thing’ (pre-internet)…but he’d hire people to travel the UK and America to take notes and essentially steal other people’s jokes. With that in mind, I started to think about ‘ownership’; at what point does something become someone else’s? How far removed does it need to be from the original thing before it’s another ‘thing’? Is there a point where it becomes nothing at all?
The video itself is like a collage - the medium you’re best known for. How do your physical collages differ?
The majority of my analogue and paper-based work is driven by chance. I use found items and scraps. They’re typically made at a fast-pace and finished pieces are often slightly chaotic. ‘Masquerade’ is the opposite of that. It was made with a purpose, but hopefully it still leaves enough ambiguity so that the viewer questions what it is they’re actually watching.
What originally drew you to collage as a medium?
The short answer would be, frustration. In 2014 I started a HND in Fine Art where all the modules were designed in a way so that you were able to experiment with specific mediums (photography, printmaking, painting, drawing and sculpture). There wasn’t any mention of collage, let alone a dedicated module. It didn’t make sense to me that one of the most prominent art forms of the 20th century was completely ignored. In my second year of the HND I don’t think I made anything other than paper collages, mostly from free magazines found in and around Birmingham.
I think sometimes the hardest part of collage can be finding the right material. How do you source this and how do you decide what fits together?
You’re right, finding the right material can be tricky. But for me, collaging is heavily dependent on my mood. It’s also quite difficult to plan thoroughly when working with found material. You can certainly try, but there’s no guarantee that the imagery/pattern/size will fit together. It’s mostly down to trial and error. Often I’ll try several different arrangements, photographing each one and leaving it for a few days before trying to decide from the photos which one I think works best.
You also work as a part of Triple One Five, which creates amazing monthly zines using the Metro Newspaper. Which issue was your favourite to work on?
Thank you for the kind words. I wish I could tell you for sure which one was my favourite, but after four and a half years of producing the zine it becomes one big blurry, surreal, Tory-bashing mind-f*ck! It’s just nice to know that others appreciate the work and/or find them amusing. I typically make content for Triple One Five to make myself and the other three artists laugh. It sounds like a selfish approach, but it’s a tried and tested method!
What advice would you give to emerging creatives?
Make. You never know what’s going to work without trying it. There’s no fault in failure. If something doesn’t work, find something that does work and works better. In my experience, a lot of people live in their head or their sketchbook.
