Found materials on card stock
8.5 x 11 in.
Sharon and Guy
Sharon and Guy are a Chicago-based duo whose collage practice grows out of their shared background in design and education. Working with fragments gathered from city walls, magazines, and scraps of discarded paper, they approach collage by passing pieces back and forth in a process shaped by chance, improvisation, and the exquisite corpse method. Their works inhabit the space between past and present, where memory and urban texture combine into striking visual compositions.
In the Words of the Artist
Found materials on card stock
8.5 x 11 in.
As a creative collaboration, Sharon and Guy question and investigate the process of design—the ways in which ideas are expressed and disseminated, ranging from the micro level of experimental typographic form and self-authorship to the macro level of creating publications and exhibitions. Our work tends to stem from personal interests in and notions of identity and popular culture, whimsy and improvisation, and experimental work with imagery, language, and typography. Examining form, the works lean outward from standard, client-based graphic design practice to areas that are outlying or blend with other disciplines. Examining content, the works are often meta, focusing on design itself as subject matter.
Found materials on card stock
8.5 x 11 in.
Making collages is an intuitive act of noticing, of recognizing the potential in what is often overlooked. It is a process of gathering fragments not just as found materials but as traces of memory, emotion, and experience, and there is a rhythm to it—a cyclical dance of collecting, reflecting, and reimagining—where each piece carries a history and yet becomes something new through juxtaposition. The collages themselves exist in the transitional space between past and present; it’s where chance encounters guide the hand, and visual curiosity becomes the compass. In this space, meaning emerges not from singular elements but from their relationships—how they clash, harmonize, and coexist; collage becomes its own articulate visual language, one built on layers, contradictions, and the process of reassembly.
Found materials on card stock
8.5 x 11 in.
Overt and impromptu themes vary from time to time, but overall, underlying values include urbanism and embracing the instinctual and notion of whimsy through happenstance and improvisation.
Found materials on card stock
8.5 x 11 in.
Most of the collages incorporate elements of the exquisite corpse method, using chance operations and randomness as key processes. I usually begin by placing the first piece(s), then Sharon adds to it, and we continue taking turns over the course of a week or two. Once we’re both satisfied with the general arrangement, we make a few refinements. When we agree that it’s complete, I adhere the fragments to the substrate (plain white card stock).
The source material is typically derived from the layered posters that cover the exterior walls of buildings in the city, as well as old magazines and discarded scraps of paper.
The blending of analog and digital techniques is becoming a vibrant construct for experimentation. Scanning hand-cut fragments, layering them with digital content, and weaving the two worlds together is a fusion that invites new creative possibilities and a dialogue between the tactile, the technological, and the space between.
Found materials on card stock
8.5 x 11 in.
Found materials on card stock
8.5 x 11 in.
About the Artist
As a creative collaboration, Sharon and Guy practice design and author exhibitions. Notable works include exhibitions in Chicago at Mana Contemporary (for Tiger Strikes Asteroid) and as part of a team for the Chicago Design Archive at Art on the Mart and 150 Media Stream. Among their many recognitions, they were named in Design 50 by Newcity in 2022.
In addition to their studio practice, Sharon Oiga and Guy Villa Jr are both professors. At the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), Sharon serves as Professor and Chair of Graphic Design. At Columbia College Chicago, Guy serves as Assistant Professor and Coordinator of Graphic Design. Sharon holds an MFA in Graphic Design from Yale University and BFA degrees in Graphic Design and Photography from UIC. Guy holds a BFA from UIC, with a major in Graphic Design and a concentration in Photography.
For Your Viewing Pleasure
What to watch, read, and experience, as curated by the Collé team.
GIUSEPPE LEPORE is a collage artist from Mola di Bari, Italy, whose digital works move through the terrain of dreams and imagination. Rejecting AI, his practice emphasizes a handmade sensibility within digital collage, creating poetic fragments that invite reflection and wonder.
ANDREA MARTÍNEZ (b. 1982, Brazil) is an artist and educator based in Mexico City. A graduate of La Esmeralda, her practice explores the fundamentals of photography, light, color, and materiality, while moving between landscape, portrait, abstraction, and cross-media experimentation.
RICARDO SANTOS is a Lisbon-based designer & illustrator whose practice spans identity, typography, collage, editorial, web, print, motion, and pattern work. Under the imprint Office Santos, he creates visual languages that travel “Lisbon → World,” combining design, illustration, and creative research with a global reach.
BINA THORSEN is a graphic designer and illustrator from Sweden, currently based in New York. She earned her BFA in Design from the School of Visual Arts and is now a Senior Designer at Wieden+Kennedy. Previously, she worked at Pentagram.
ELIZABETH ARZANI is an interdisciplinary artist and educator based in Portland, OR. Her practice gathers fragments of curiosity, absurdity, and humor, recycling them into narratives that seek connection and collaboration with the unknown.
Out and About
What to watch, read, and experience, as curated by the Collé team.
▼ VISIT
Houk Gallery presents Revelation by Sissi Farassat, New York
On view September 2 – October 18, 2025. Drawing from vintage photographs, Farassat conceals most of each image behind a cut overmat, leaving only a fragment exposed. Described by Michel Poivert as “anti-collage,” this act of subtraction shifts attention to the unseen, reframing portraiture through ambiguity, mystery, and imagination.
▼ READ
Inside the Bizarre Realm of AI Copyright Law by Peter J. Karol
Artificial intelligence is upending long-held ideas of authorship, ownership, and creativity. As artists, coders, and corporations wrestle over who—or what—can claim copyright, the law finds itself in uncharted territory. Aperture takes us inside this strange new realm, where legal frameworks collide with machine-made art.
▼ LISTEN
Hypnophobia by Jacco Gardner
This 2015 psych album is mysterious and opens the doors to the unconscious. Lush arrangements of harpsichord, synth, and reverb-drenched guitar drift between dream and nightmare, conjuring a world that feels both retro but timeless. Gardner turns psychedelia inward, writing songs that move like half-remembered visions.
