Kal Honey – Friday Night Guest – February 9, 2024

(Submitted by Eric David)

Kal Honey is an award-winning graduate of OCAD. His work includes collage, signage and painting — encompassing bold graphics, subtle patterns, text, wit and wordplay. His recent exhibitions include: The Artist Project, Fashion Art Toronto F/W 2023, In Situ Multi Arts Festival, The Red Head Gallery and ‘Come up to My Room’ at Gladstone House. In 2023, he produced his first art book, “Collage & Decollage.”

During his presentation @donvalleyartclub, Kal discussed the history of Collage and Decollage as well as provided insights into his approach and the artists that have influenced him.

Fashion magazines are source materials Kal uses in his collage work. In his collage demonstration Kal emphasized the importance of exploration and surprise. An approach that he uses for both Collage and Decollage is to cut out a shape, and then turn it over to reveal what’s on the back. Placing the reversed shape in the collage adds an element of surprise and interest. If he’s cutting through multiple layers, he’ll sometimes slightly misalign the shapes during assembly to create a sense of movement.

Kal discussed one of the major challenges for this art form – size limitations (due to the size of the magazines used as source material) and lack of archival permanence for the finished pieces. To address these issues, with the encouragement of his wife who is also an artist, he has started to scan and then archival print versions of his work for exhibitions and sale.

To see Kal Honey’s work visit https://www.kalhoney.ca/ or @kalhoney.artist. If you would like to participate in a free social collage making session with Kal on YouTube see www.kalhoney.ca/virtual-collage-jam.html for more information.