Mixed media collage
93 x 188 cm
Electric Beast
Electric Beast is the collaborative force of Jamie Tao and Rubén Salavert, transforming vintage prints, posters, and books into collages that pulse with layered, psychedelic narratives. Rooted in memory, chance, and cultural crossings, their practice embraces error as strategy, affirming that inspiration is never abstract but embodied, tactile, and strangely alive. Guided by a distinctly Lynchian spirit, they welcome the surreal and the unexpected, allowing the subconscious to slip in and out of their compositions.
In the Words of the Artist
Mixed media collage
81 x 102 cm
Our practice is thematic and conceptual at first. It goes from the search and collection of imagery, which is oftentimes the longest, to the cross-combination of all things paper, to the final composition. When it comes to collaging, we believe there’s no right or wrong. That sense of freedom not only empowers us to explore further but also helps us read potential mistakes in the process as unique opportunities to be welcomed into our work.
Inspiration is at the core of our work. We get inspired by all kinds of vintage imagery that we collect, combine, and transform, with the hope of inspiring right back. Being half Chinese, Jamie is a big fan of the old, colorful Chinese posters and calendars that she grew up seeing in her grandfather’s home. Any nod to her Chinese culture or the mixing of east and west is a path she’ll take and explore.
On the other hand, the images that speak to Rubén are mostly old sci-fi illustrations, mixed with ‘80s pop culture and some French reminisce. Lately, he’s been into small scraps of paper— dusty treasures worth putting your prescription eyeglasses on.
Mixed media collage
58 x 89.5 cm
Working with old prints and magazines brings a sense of “rebirth” to collaging. All those vintage images we find around the world become part of a new composition, and work together for the first time to tell a brand-new story. There’s both a familiarity and a freshness to this art form that we find incredibly gratifying.
The first step in our creative process is the curation, along with some intense mental juggling as we collect new images for our library. Then the process becomes transformative, where we start a composition with an open mind and fearless scissors. Our work in progress is fluid, deliberate, and always willing to consider new elements and visuals, whether they change the direction of the piece or not.
Mixed media collage
102 x 162.5 cm
Mixed media collage
381 x 102 cm
We work with vintage, original printed materials, unique and collectable: old movie posters, records, books, and beautiful magazines like Leslie’s, The Etude, Ideals, Omni, Argosy, or Collier’s - to name a few. Our mixed media materials include some of the amazing colors from Culture Hustle, like their “blackest black paint in the known universe.” Terrific.
In times where AI is able to create digital collage art, analog stands stronger than ever. Textures, rips, and imperfections are an important part of the story that also speaks to the artist’s creative journey. Whether it is analog or digital, the concept of collage as a new combination of existing elements will continue to thrive in the future. And will keep healing the creative soul.
Mixed media collage
56 x 71 cm
Mixed media collage
81 x 102 cm
About the Artist
Everything is inspired by something, and Electric Beast celebrates the very particular things that spark inspiration. Behind the Beast are Jamie Tao and Rubén Salavert, who find daily inspiration in the old magazines, posters, and books they collect to create their hand-made collages. Both artists rescue and repurpose found imagery, giving it new life and meaning. Jamie was born in 1982 in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, to a Scandinavian mother and a Chinese father. Rubén, born in 1976 in Valencia, Spain—a land of bats, fire, and paella—brings his own history and sensibility to the work.
For Your Viewing Pleasure
What to watch, read, and experience, as curated by the Collé team.
ANA FROIS explores suspended time, chance, and error through repetition and elaboration. Her work often reflects on home and personal space, developed through drawing, visual diaries, artist books, and installations. Trained as an architect, she brings structural sensitivity into her artistic practice.
MELANIE SMITH is a British-born, Mexico City–based artist whose practice spans painting, video, performance, installation, and collage. Her work explores the tensions of modernity, chaos, and fragmentation, often staging color and form as both structure and disruption.
JUAN ROMERO is a graphic designer whose practice bridges design precision with the intuitive language of collage. His work often involves slicing, layering, and reconfiguring images into striking compositions that blur the boundary between graphic clarity and artistic experimentation.
SOFIA MASINI (b. 1991, Madrid) is a Milan-based photographer and visual artist whose practice explores the relationship between body and landscape. Her work employs fragmentation, layering, and material processes to reveal connections between embodiment, transformation, and the natural world.
PATRICIO TEJEDO lives and works in Mexico City. In 2019, he completed his degree in Architecture at Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City. He began his professional career at Tatiana Bilbao Studio and, by the end of 2020, he started his artistic experimentation and practice as a three-dimensional artist.
Out and About
What to watch, read, and experience, as curated by the Collé team.
▼ READ
We Are Landscapes By Steve Maldonado Silvestrini
Daniel Lind-Ramos builds landscapes out of memory and survival. His assemblages, woven from mangroves, tools, drums, and discarded objects, honor Afro-Caribbean histories while standing as sentinels against erasure. In their presence, Puerto Rico’s past and future converge, revealing art as both shield and song.
▼ READ
Assemblage, Environments & Happenings by Allan Kaprow
Kaprow created anti-art works that reshaped the course of late 20th-century art. He embraced chance and accident to stage nonverbal, quasi-theatrical situations where everyday actions became art. This scarce first edition includes photographs by Claes Oldenburg, Robert McElroy, Peter Moore, and others.
▼ LISTEN
Paranoid Cocoon by Cotton Jones
This 2009 release plays like a dimly lit room, curtains pulled, the air thick with memory. The songs drift loose, somewhere between folk and soul, carrying a kind of worn-out ease. They don’t chase resolution; they just wrap around you in a dream-like way.
