10 Questions with : Darren Booth
01. When and how did you first get into collage?
My journey into using collage began in secondary school class when our art class asked that we keep daily journals filled with inspirations and sketches. However, it wasn’t until I attended art college for Illustration that it became a part of my work, gradually developing into a significant part of it as I experimented more with the medium. By the end of art college I was using it in all of my illustrations. It’s always been the medium that’s felt the most natural, even more than drawing and painting ever felt.
02. How would you describe your approach to collage and your specific style?
I often describe my work as “painterly-collage,” characterized by an intuitive yet meticulously considered approach. I blend found papers with my own painted elements and integrate them with paintings and compositions that I’ve blocked in with colour. Over the years my work has moved to abstract forms, textures, and bright colour palettes. My process is very tactile; I enjoy the physical act of layering, cutting, getting lost in all of the details, and reacting to the materials until the work eventually feels “just right.” It’s almost like each piece is it’s own unique jigsaw puzzle that I need to figure out, and am generally not satisfied until it is solved. There’s always a fair amount of struggle and frustration, like with any process in any medium, and I think that’s what contributes to the overall satisfaction for me. The combination of materials, spontaneity, and precision is what gives my work a cohesive feel and recognizable quality.
03. What would be your artistic statement in terms of what you’re seeking to achieve in your work?
My goal is to merge the worlds of my commercial work and fine art, creating work that is both personal and somewhat universally engaging. I do my best to draw inspiration from my own story and the little world that I live in, turning inward to connect to my work as much as possible. Through vibrant colours, varied textures, and preserving imperfections I seek to connect with my audience on a personal level.
04. What do you want the viewer to get from your work?
I want the viewer to gain a sense of who I am through my work. I understand that once my work is in the wild, the way it gets viewed and absorbed or interpreted is beyond my control, and I’m open to the various interpretations and connections people make with it. Whether they are intrigued by the colours, textures, or find personal meaning and connection to it, I appreciate the curiosity and engagement that come from it. And if it doesn’t resonate with someone, that’s okay, too!
05. Who or what are your biggest influences and why?
My biggest influence is my experience with multi-sensory aphantasia, which profoundly shapes my approach to art-making. Aphantasia means I don’t form mental images, and in my case, this extends to sounds, tastes, and smells,
too. I prefer the term “image-free thinking” over terms that suggest a deficit. It’s more fitting. Due to aphantasia I rely on my own approach driven by information collection, overthinking, and visual stimuli to develop ideas and find inspiration. Instead of relying on traditional sketchbooks, I maintain extensive notes both analogue and digital, allowing me to continuously record ideas which somehow magically leads to me creating work. Collage naturally became the dominant technique in my practice as it allows me to manipulate shapes, colour palettes, and compositions in real-time, responding to what I am physically seeing and trying to communicate. The tangible process helps bridge the major gap that exists between my internal experience and external world.
I have adapted to a flexible working style that embraces exploration and avoids prolonged focus on a single task. I refer to this as “Working in a Circle,” where I work on multiple projects and tasks simultaneously, making progress in short bursts. The method harnesses my natural distractibility and inclination for exploration, turning potential challenges into strengths. My neurodivergency has shaped and defined my artistic identity, life, and career trajectory. It’s an integral aspect of my creative process and human experience and honestly I don’t know where I would be without it.
06. What ambitions do you have for your art - are there directions you’d like to move in?
I’m moving towards merging my fine art with some of my commercial art. I have no idea how long it will take, though,
but I have a feeling it’ll slowly happen over time without me fully realizing it until something happens and I get a chance to see
it from a zoomed out perspective. Having worked extensively as a commercial illustrator, these last few years have me delving deeper into personal work and the fine art world, and I’d love to be bringing more of my personal aesthetic into some commercial applications like large-scale murals, packaging, and book covers. I guess it’s my way of trying to have the best of both worlds and do as much of what I love as possible. I feel this blend would expand the creative scope of my work, and open up more creative expression and opportunities for collaboration, which is important to me as my career evolves.
07. What do you use as your materials and where do you source them from?
I primarily create the collage materials for my work, especially for larger works, using everything from wallpaper to printmaking papers to paper shopping bags. For smaller collage works, I often source them from magazines, or vintage magazines because then I can take advantage of small areas that contain patterns. Nothing better than finding a way to combine odd patterns together. I have several organized containers filled with thousands of smaller pieces, collected over the years, waiting and hunting for the perfect opportunity to be used. If you know, you know.
08. Can you choose one of your pieces and give us an insight into the story behind it?
“We Are Much the Same,” (below) is a series of blue and white sculptures that are particular meaningful to me. Using old family photos as some of the collage elements on the sculptures, the process became therapeutic when I realised the remnants of the photos were also very interesting as the meaning of them changed. The simple of act of removing something from one source to create something new was very helpful to me personally as it represented a tangible connection to some of my family history
and my relationship to my anxiety. The pieces pay homage to my Dutch roots and I try to incorporate other skill sets that I developed while growing up, like a bit of woodworking. These are some of the first pieces that I created where I stacked other skills and interests. The compositions were spontaneous and the construction process was very intuitive and I look forward to making more work with this approach.
09. Finish this sentence : Collage is...
my way of seeing and transforming thoughts and concepts into visuals.
10. What’s the one question we should have asked you, but didn’t?
What role does collaboration play in your artistic process?
Collaboration is a crucial element of my artistic process at times. Working with another person, whether it be a designer, Art Director, client, or project manager often helps bring a fresh perspective. Although I’m a freelancer and independent artist, I work with a project manager regularly to help me keep my work organised. Their background is in the arts and curation and it’s very helpful to me to be able to bounce ideas off of each other and have a sounding board. And when it comes to client work, many of those projects require me to step outside of my comfort zone and explore a new concept or have a technical requirement that I need to figure out. The energy exchange that collaboration fosters is very unique and it allows me to grow as an artist. It’s also a way to build connections to other people and create a community within my own little world.
You can see more of Darren’s work on his website : darrenbooth.com and on his Instagram page : @darrenbooth
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