We catch up with Joe Webb and discover why glue and Rene Magritte are so important in his life as an artist!
What or who are the main inspirations behind your work?
Rene Magritte. I'm obsessed by his work. I took my family on a holiday to Brussels just to go to the Magritte Museum. The kids weren't amused. They wanted to go to Disneyland.
How do you approach the actual making of a piece?
I look in second hand bookshops for an image which triggers an idea...then take it back to my studio and cut it up and juxtapose other images around it...trying to reinvent it somehow to tell a visual story.
What’s your medium?
Collage – vintage magazines and books.
What’s the one thing you can’t live without?
Glue.
What are you currently working on?
A piece commissioned by the Saatchi Gallery, it will be on their site soon and will have very limited edition Prints of it as well as the original for sale.
Describe your work in 5 words.
Simple, complicated, surreal, real, confusing.
Describe an average day for you.
Breakfast, collage, lunch, collage, dinner, collage.
Does the impact of the viewer influence your work and if so how?
I’m trying not to worry too much about the viewer, although I want the work to be well received. My main aim is to make work I enjoy making that says something.
What led you to become an artist?
I’ve always made art since I was a kid, so just immaturity I guess.
What’s your strongest memory of your childhood?
Getting a picture of mine on Tony Harts gallery!
What themes do you pursue?
I use a lot of vintage 1950s imagery which has all sorts of connotations....it was an idealistic time with a sinister undercurrent... A lot of the pieces try to hold a mirror up to the differences in the world showing how ridiculous everything is.
What jobs have you done other than being an artist?
Postman, Graphic / web designer
What memorable responses have you had to your work?
Getting tens of thousands of views online …which led to me showing my work in the Saatchi Gallery.
