Erik Farseth

Erik Farseth
Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA

STATEMENT

I am a mixed-media artist specializing in cut paper collage, relief prints, and zine-making.

My current series is an artistic response to a tumultuous era marked by political extremism and the resurgence of atavistic nationalisms as a force throughout the world. This new work builds upon aesthetic and political revolutions of the past century (Dadaism, Constructivism, Punk Rock, DIY Culture), while exploring new aesthetic territory and inviting the viewer to engage in contemporary political concerns.

This latest body of work is part of a larger project dedicated to the democratic production and distribution of art. Traditional gallery spaces become a jumping-off point for a variety of grassroots media shown and distributed in public spaces (storefront art installations, etc.).

Images from my original collages and woodcuts are repurposed and recirculated in the form of screenprints, t-shirts, and zines. Even when my artwork isn’t overtly political in its content, it is political in its process.

My interest in “analog” collage grew from my experience making zines. Originally produced as photocopy art, the cut-and-paste aesthetic of zines was a direct result of artists laying out the pages by hand. These are the same techniques that I use to create my cut paper collages.

Wielding a pair of scissors in lieu of a paintbrush, new hybridized images are built up from dozens of cut-paper fragments. Using cultural detritus of the fading “American Century,” these collage “paintings” evoke a candy-coated version of American myth-making, myths then torn apart (literally) to create new meanings.

BIO

Erik Farseth is a printmaker, zine-maker, and collage artist based in Minneapolis. A native of the Twin Cities, Farseth has been exhibiting his cut paper collages since 1995. Farseth received his MA in Journalism from the University of Iowa. He holds a BA in Art, Culture, and Politics from Saint Olaf College.

Farseth is a three-time recipient of an Artist Initiative Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board (2013, 2016, and 2019). In 2000, he received an MCBA-Jerome Book Arts Fellowship from the Minnesota Center for Book Arts.

ARTIST CONTACT

[click to email]
jcruelty.com

IMAGES