phomohobes Biography

 

Phomohobes are Jason Cawood (Regina) and Colby Richardson (Winnipeg).

Phomohobes draw from a collected archive of appropriated images to create works that continue, while remaining resolutely outside of, the practice of traditional collage. The images they re-assemble are predominantly drawn from pre-1990 commercial sources and have thus outlived their utility in consumer culture. This chronological distance creates space for the images to be read in quotations, as “ideas” of images, safely removed from their initial function as mere, face-value representation. When combined together as collages, they a present an ambiguous, cryptic agenda, but they do so assertively. Their collages often take shape as garish, humorous and perverse juxtapositions of mid-20th century aesthetics, ancient Egypt, science, glamour, body parts and masculinity. These recurring themes create an insular world of open-ended symbology, where much of the interpretation relies upon what the viewer brings to the experience.

Phomohobes, Family Dynamics, 2019, hand-cut collage. Photo courtesy of the artists.

Phomohobes, Family Dynamics, 2019, hand-cut collage. Photo courtesy of the artists.

Phomohobes, ‘Sierra Ascendants in FunFrame’, 2019, Arctic Disconnect in FunFrame’, 2017, Hahnemühle prints of paper collages with collaged deadstock frames. Collection of the Artists. Photo by Don Hall.

Phomohobes, ‘Sierra Ascendants in FunFrame’, 2019, Arctic Disconnect in FunFrame’, 2017, Hahnemühle prints of paper collages with collaged deadstock frames. Collection of the Artists. Photo by Don Hall.