Something of a rarity in the field, Portuguese artist Hugo Barros manipulates images not with digital tools like Photoshop, but instead using the collage skills you learnt as a kid. Barros began making his mind-bending collages three or four years ago, taking inspiration from musicians like Animal Collective, The Liars, Radiohead, Explosions in the Sky, Washed Out, and Tame Impala.
The result is Collage, a series of original artworks crafted mostly from old magazines. Subject matters and sources vary from piece to piece, but the collages often play with huge contrasts, and there's an absurd streak running through the entire series.
Barros shares almost all of his artwork on his Tumblr, and also sells prints through an online store. Here's a selection of his finest work.
"I just love working with tangible materials," Baros tells the German publication Zeitjung in an exclusive interview, "it motivates me, just to physically interact with them."
"I believe people can easily create new things. It doesn't necessarily have anything to do with art. What I do is not necessarily an artistic endeavor."
"Our everyday lives have a surreal nature. Levels of reality overlap constantly. Situations can appear calm and orderly, but behind them, there's a surreal explosion of color that we often don't want to see."
All images courtesy of Hugo Barros. Interview excerpts from Zeitjung. Selected prints from Barros' Collage can be purchased online.