Analog collage, 11.5 x 6.5 cm
In Javier Hirschfeld Moreno’s Profile series, he undertakes a rigorous examination of the intersections between historical art traditions and contemporary modalities of portraiture, with a particular emphasis on the dynamics of self-representation. By juxtaposing the 19th-century phenomenon of 'Cartes de Visite'—predominantly celebrated in the 1860s—with a curated assembly of screenshots derived from modern-day digital dating platforms such as Tinder and Grindr, Moreno offers a profound analytical discourse on the evolution of identity constructs, the politics of visibility, archival methodologies, and the implications of both emotional and surveillance-driven capitalism in the digital age.
Analog collage, 11.5 x 6.5 cm
The power and responsibility of representation of one and others in photography is a preoccupation which I reflected upon in previous projects. My newest project focuses on how that photographic representation not only reflects but also shapes identities, personal and collective. In Profile, the collage technique has allowed me to reflect on this by making a literal sandwich of the history of photography and its representation. From the carte-de-visites, first example of socialization mediated by photography in 1860s, to today’s dating apps profile photos.
Analog collage, 11.5 x 6.5 cm
The other big theme in my work, I suppose, is the idea of the mask, from its wider sense in art to specifically the queer mask - imposed for centuries onto queer people and other dissidences. I first, upon examining the sheer amount of faceless profiles on queer dating apps, reflected on the idea of the mask of fear and shame. As well as reflecting on the transition from offline-to-online dating/socialization, which is slowly leading to loss of many gay bars, spaces of leisure, but also of political visibilization, which I tried to make conspicuous with the cut outs.
Analog collage, 11.5 x 6.5 cm
Analog collage, 11.5 x 6.5 cm
As I continued reflecting on the project, I started to reflect on different, often contradictory, ideas around the mask: the mask to seduce, to subvert, for the struggle or the power relationship between the mask and the unmasked. It is here where the landscapes, as alternative to the expected aspirational portrait, subverts the logics of emotional capitalism and, perhaps naively, of surveillance capitalism.
Analog collage, 11.5 x 6.5 cm
I grew up in the same square as Picasso, and the early visits to his exhibitions surely had an early impact on me. For a boy who wasn’t able to draw properly, the different styles and techniques of Picasso, importantly his collages and works towards abstraction, were a very liberating example.
Analog collage, 11.5 x 6.5 cm
Javier Hirschfeld Moreno was born in 1979 in Malaga, Spain. He is currently based in London, United Kingdom.
For Your Viewing Pleasure
Charlie Korman (b. 1998 Los Angeles, CA) received his BFA from The University of California, Santa Cruz and currently lives and works in Los Angeles. His multi-disciplinary practice aims to draw lines between past, present, and future through a stream of consciousness style approach. Through addition, subtraction, and manipulation, Korman’s work utilizes ephemera, found objects, and belongings of lost loved ones as meditations on grief, loss, and the uncertainty of life itself.
Zoe Alameda (b. 2000) is a multidisciplinary artist living and working in Los Angeles. Combining processes of collage, painting, printmaking and sculpture, Alameda attempts to investigate a more authentic self beyond the internet facade. Her practice explores feelings of anxiety and overstimulation through an abundance of personal/ online-sourced images and found material.
Nova Ash Thoreen (b. 2001) is a Los Angeles based artist who aims to convey notions of interconnected synergies that arise from his interest of reading between the lines of both subconscious and unconscious states of being; inviting the audience to participate in a conversation that calls upon the innermost regions of their flow of thought without the limitations of inhibitions that reality presents to the individual. Fleeting moments of the human psyche are then actualized through indirect iconography and found imagery strung throughout his works; allowing for interpersonal dissection that plays into a universal response towards otherwise overlooked and mundane junctures in the crossroads of lethargy.
Grace Horan (b. 1999, Illinois) is an multimedia artist primarily working with leaded glass. Grace lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. In 2021, she received a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design.
Thomas Macie (b. 1995) is interested in absurd combinations of objects: a Christmas tree in a trashcan, a lifted truck with scissor doors, layered images, and latent meaning. The over-stimulation and bombardment of images/information experienced in late capitalism. His interdisciplinary practice includes traditional and non-traditional approaches to printmaking. He also makes works on paper, paintings, and sculpture, occasionally video, and books.
Out and About
What to watch, read, and experience, as curated by the Collé team.
VISIT
ArtificaI Intelligence Walk-in Workshop
Every Sunday afternoon, Foam Museum in Amsterdam offers free walk-in workshops inspired by the exhibition Sleeping Beauty by Carlijn Jacobs. During this interactive workshop, you will have the chance to create images using DALL·E, under the guidance of experienced museum teachers. You will receive a print of your best image to take home with you.
READ
Turning the Media Against Itself: Dara Birnbaum
Starting from the 1970s, Dara Birnbaum has addressed the media landscape to subvert and critique the dominant narratives of her time, developing formal and technical innovations that are still considered revolutionary. Birnbaum uses appropriation and deconstruction to challenge the way the media portrays the world through the male gaze, accomplishing this by expropriating the media’s tools and thus turning the media against itself.
LISTEN
I'll Never Leave by Les Imprimés
Morten Martens, the creative force behind Les Imprimés, hails from Kristiansand, Norway. Born and raised there, he continues to work in his hometown, crafting heartfelt, unique, and highly infectious music. Despite his immense talent, Morten maintains a low profile. The ethereal and stirring sounds of Les Imprimés are sure to captivate and leave a lasting impression.
