COLLAGE ARTIST
How a Suburbanite Became a Norwegian Goat Herder and, Then a Collage Artist.
An awkward child of privilege, Jenny Hampe’s story is that of a young woman who flees the rampant buzzing of the New York art world and ends up herding goats on a desolate Norwegian mountain top. Her story is about the drive to make art, to use art to reach the outside world, and collage’s unique ability to be made anywhere. Hampe’s story is about overcoming the bumps and shackles that life throws at artists. She absconded with a unique sort of freedom. In Kolaj #16, we are proud to share the remarkable store of this unique collage artist.
This article appeared in Kolaj #16. To read the entire article, SUBSCRIBE to Kolaj Magazine or Get a Copy of the Issue.
I sought out the solitude of desolate, wind-swept, northern places. I aspired to dedicate my remaining days to making sacred art, divinely-inspired, and untainted by a gallery scene.
At the end of the day, even if one owns a farm and knits one’s own socks and churns one’s own butter, one still needs money. What an unspeakably devastating shock it was when I finally realised this. And in our quest for complete and utter self-sufficiency, I lost sight of my original intention: to avoid having a career so as to be able to dedicate my life to making art.
And so, returning to my true calling as creator, I now deem collage to be the ultimate visual art form, for it speaks of unfettered freedom, where nothing is forbidden: all mediums are allowed, be they snippets of vintage advertising, found objects, paint, fabric, cardboard, string, cigar labels, or candy wrappers. Collage is a perfect analogy for life itself: we can try to control it, and confine it to narrow definitions of right or wrong, good or bad, should or shouldn’t; but life always has a way of escaping the rules and regulations we impose upon it.
This article appeared in Kolaj #16. To read the entire article, SUBSCRIBE to Kolaj Magazine or Get a Copy of the Issue.