Pulp Friction

Hang-Up Gallery introduces Pulp Friction, the inaugural solo exhibition from collage artist Joe Webb. Heavily drawn to iconic and dreamlike ideals, the exhibition is a playful nod to the 1950s romance era, where the majority of imagery and subject matter has been sourced.

Webb collects vintage magazines and printed ephemera from which he painstakingly creates beautiful, nostalgic collages. Initially inspired by childhood hero Sir Peter Blake, Rene Magritte and more recently Henri Matisse for his 'painting with scissors' technique, his work is all entirely hand made.

Webb says, 'I started making these hand-made collages as a sort of luddite reaction to working on computers for many years. I like the limitations of collage, using found imagery and a pair of scissors. There are no options to resize, adjust colours or undo. The small faults are all part of the hand-made charm. They are almost old artworks already. Even though they have just been made there is still a history behind them”.

Pulp Friction will showcase for the first time an array of Webb's original collages and limited edition silkscreen prints, from the early political and humorous pieces to the surreal movie collages and new minimalistic abstract work of recent months.

Gallery Director Ben Cotton says ' Joe's work has endless meanings. He is drawn heavily to the glamour and romance era of the 1950's. The collages take on a dream like surreal direction with heavy references to vintage nostalgia”

A number of Webb's works have become Internet sensations with 50 000 people sharing the piece 'Antares and Love II' which has also been displayed in London's Saatchi Gallery. Antares and Love II was the winner of the Saatchi's prestigious 'Showdown' competition in 2012.