Casey Babb

Casey Babb
Warrensburg, Missouri, USA

STATEMENT

Collage is the most natural medium for me to work in, as it inherently possesses a dreamlike quality, and allows for a fair amount of free association. Rather than recontextualize found images by juxtaposing them against each other, I repurpose elements from several found images to create more illustrative work that stands independent of the original imagery.

Although I studied illustration, printmaking, photography, and animation, I found the tyranny of a blank canvas difficult to overcome. Collage removes that obstacle, allowing me to daydream, to enter into a dialog with the pieces, to find connections. It is a much more intuitive process for me to “macgyver” images together than to create something from absolutely nothing.

Dreams have always been a core aspect of my life, and I was raised in a neon and fluorescent candy-colored world where every book had a movie, every movie had an accompanying toy line, and every toy
line had an animated series. I spend a lot of time pulling from inner worlds, but when the external world is populated by mutants, monsters, punks, and demons, what’s the difference?

These concepts are filtered through my affinity for low-budget aesthetics, bootlegs, and schlocky movies, which are the foundation of my artistic process.

BIO

Casey Babb is a mixed media and collage artist living outside of the Kansas City area. Before obtaining a BFA in illustration from the University of Central Missouri, he studied photography and animation. Currently, he works as a freelance illustrator, focusing on book and album covers, as well as editorial illustration.

ARTIST CONTACT

EMAIL | WEBSITE

IMAGES