Josie Callahan

Josie Callahan
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

STATEMENT

Sad yet sparkly. That is how I describe my artwork…and myself. Through collage, I explore the pain and chaos of existence v. the indifferent world. I am drawn to dichotomy because it creates nuance to issues–such as extinction, conservation, biomedical research–which are often portrayed as being straightforward. Moral dilemmas are rarely black and white, sparkly tears give us pause. My artwork comes from a place of pain and unsettledness with existence; thus, I want to awaken the discomfort in others–as the Dread Pirate Roberts said in The Princess Bride, “Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.”

BIO

Josie Callahan is a Pittsburgh-based, self-taught collage artist whose paper collage artwork is informed by her education in philosophy and primate studies, which involves delving into themes of existentialism, ethics, and extinction. Josie draws inspiration from authors such as Albert Camus and Franz Kafka, in an attempt to live with and even confront the indifference of the world through collage.

Josie has been collaging since 2022. Prior to this journey into the mixed media of collage, Josie worked with the medium of oil paint–painting surrealist scenes and portraits, as well as creating commissioned memorial paintings of humans and nonhumans who have died. Additionally, Josie creates tie dye shirts for Fungus, Pittsburgh’s premier jam band, which are sold at local concerts.

ARTIST CONTACT

[click to email]
(412) 862-8197
INSTAGRAM

IMAGES