Pinned Skin Collages / David Adey

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Pinned Skin Collages

American artist David Adey creates these intricate collages by cutting fragments of printed skin from magazine photographs. The original photos are this way reconstructed from thousands of tiny scraps, cut into various geometric shapes and arranged in such a way that they stick on the canvas in only a single pin. It’s a painstaking process that takes up a couple of hundred hours, but the result is amazing and incredibly creative.

He made impressive with hundreds of pictures of pieces cut to shape of hearts, birds, butterflies, stars or animals, These are not strictly speaking collages, since each small pieces of these mosaics is held in place by a pin.

He reconstructs the original photo but turns the skin into a tapestry of whimsical shapes, creating a new kind of portrait. In his less figurative works, he creates large shapes and textures from hundreds and hundreds of individual pieces. which looks like an enormous, coiled worm from far away, but at a closer look is revealed to be hundreds of cut out lips pinned together like scales.

David Adey

Born Again: Images of lips from fashion magazines are cut using an assortment of heart-shaped craft punches and assembled with pins on a foam panel.Dimensions: 48 x 48 inches, Date: 2008
Flower: Images of lips from fashion magazines are cut using an assortment of heart-shaped craft punches, and assembled with pins on a foam panel.Dimensions: 26 x 26 inches, Date: 2007
For Gucci: A series of Gucci ads are layered with logos aligned. Only the areas of skin which touch the logo are extracted from each ad. The extracted skin is reassembled in layers with pins on a foam panel, creating a complete logo in negative space. Dimensions: 24 x 24 inches, Date: 2010
Misha Barton for Bebe: Skin is isolated and extracted from a Bebe bus-shelter poster with a collection of craft-punches. The deconstructed image is re-assembled with pins on a foam panel. Dimensions: 68 x 47.5 x 3.25 inches, Date: 2008
People Magazine Covers: Skin is isolated and extracted from a series of People Magazine covers using a variety of craft-punches. The deconstructed images are re-assembled with pins on foam panels. Dimensions: 19.5 x 16.5 x 3.25 inches, Date: 2008
Person of The Year: Time Magazine’s Person of the Year cover, featuring Shepard Fairey’s illustration of Barack Obama. Illustrated skin is extracted with a variety of craft-punches. The deconstructed image is re-assembled with pins on a foam panel. Dimensions: 24 x 18 inches, Date: 2009
Posh + Becks: Skin is isolated and extracted from a “W” Magazine cover using a variety of craft-punches. The deconstructed image is re-assembled with pins on a foam panel. Dimensions: 13 x 10 inches, Date: 2007 – (Private collection)
Rebecca Romijn for Bebe: Skin is isolated and extracted from a Bebe bus-shelter poster with a collection of craft-punches. The deconstructed image is re-assembled with pins on a foam panel. Dimensions: 68 x 47.5 x 3.25 inches, Date: 2008
Swarm: Skin is extracted from various fashion magazine ads using a collection of craft punches. Pieces are assembled with pins on a foam panel. Dimensions: 65 x 40 inches, Date: 2007 – (Private collection)

About David Adey:

David Adey was born 1972 in Morristown, New Jersey. He received an MFA in sculpture from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Michigan, in 2002. Before that he studied visual art at Point Loma Nazarene University, San Diego.

His work was exhibited in the 2010 California Biennial at the Orange County Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, The Athenaeum Music and Arts Library in La Jolla, Torrance Art Museum, and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, as well as numerous other exhibitions in San Diego, La Jolla, Los Angeles, Detroit, Boston and Miami.

Adey currently holds the post of Associate Professor and Chair in the Department of Art and Design at Point Loma Nazarene University, where he teaches sculpture, 3D design, contemporary art, and illustration.

Data

Name: Pinned Skin Collages
Type: PaperArt, Crafts, Visual Arts
Dimensions: varies
Year: Varies
Technique: cutting fragments of printed skin from magazine photographs