Jackie Donner

Jackie Donner
Rochester, New York, USA

STATEMENT

I’m a bit of a purist in my approach; my work is strictly analog. The only digital component to the art itself is scanning the work, color correcting anything that the scanner skewed, and retouching dust or glue bits out of the scan. Digital breaks occur while I’m working if I want to know more about an image than the source material can tell me, and occasionally I’ll document process for social media. All my source material is cherrypicked from my (extensive) book collection. I use an X-Acto blade and UHU glue sticks.

These constraints are important to me because they honor the source material’s integrity while providing challenges that can easily and quickly be overcome with the use of modern technology. There are many examples of this across my body of work but the most obvious is the use of repetition. Finding (and silhouetting) duplicates of an image in the same book or even in different books requires far more attention to detail, patience, and precision than simply deciding to repeat an image and printing out its duplicate.

Potentially my print media background is also partially to blame for my analog dedication; I have a deep appreciation for the printing process. A source material’s age and the way it was printed are both directly related to how the material will interact with my blade, what’s needed to achieve clean edges, and how lenient it will be if I apply adhesive prematurely.

My work is a form of therapy or image association journaling. My pieces reveal truths to me as I complete them. I gravitated towards collage because it’s a manifestation of my deeply rooted fascination with anything in this life that’s a product of human expression. Browsing, skimming, interacting with and learning from books and ephemera, clothing, art, music, and objects that others have created both humble and validate my short existence on this planet. It gives me perspective and context––a historical and anthropological reality check. From the clothes I wear to the spaces I occupy, my life is as deliberately curated and eclectic as my artwork. My existence, truly, is a collage.

BIO

I’m a graphic designer, collage artist, and sales marketing strategist living in Rochester, New York. I have a BFA in graphic design from Rochester Institute of Technology, where I also minored in print media and communications. For the last 9 years, I’ve been living and working in New York City, providing art direction and strategy to sales marketing teams at digital publishers like BuzzFeed and Slate, as well as tech startups and small businesses. An avid collector with stints at boutiques and thrift stores, I’m also passionate about vintage fashion and styling. I’ve been collaging since I was a child, but began taking it seriously as an art form around 2009. I’ve since built a robust body of work with a honed, distinct approach to the medium. After almost a decade of advertising and marketing work, I look forward to making my artwork more of a centerpiece in my professional life.

ARTIST CONTACT

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jackiedonner.com

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