HSMS: Why are you specifically drawn to collage art as a visual interpretation of spiritual and visceral concepts?
DONOFRIO: I used to only do drawings and sometimes paint, but self-made images are always subjective. I think that collage is much more challenging and stimulating as a medium and I think that it's a more accurate way of representing what's going on around the artist, instead of just what is in their minds. Collage is taking pictures of actual things from all different contexts and putting them together in one single context. It's sort of what someone's room is composed of: where each object has a different story behind it but together they are all traces of the person residing there.
In alot of the collages I've done this past year I was sometimes inspired by the photos I used. But most of the time I use them because magazine photos are very high quality and dramatic with a sterile type of perfection, which is something I can't do with a drawing or even my own camera. Since I'm trying to make collages about the way things feel these emotional photos help me make my point.
HSMS: I read on your FB, that you source most of your photographic material from old penthouse magazines you got from your boyfriend. What other influences have helped shape the style of your collages?
DONOFRIO: My favorite artist since I was 16 is Lynn Hershman Leeson. She did alot of video and interactive installation pieces when the internet was still new. Her work had alot to do with things like cyber identity, she was almost predicting how important computer technology would become for us and how deeply intertwined it would be with our lives. I've been influenced by some psychedelic artwork from the 60s, I love minimalist design and architecture (things that are very clean and crisp and don't need a subject to portray a mood), I like alot of Japanese artists who make art about sexuality, Trevor Brown is incredible, and of course I love all of these great internet artists with fake names that photoshop stuff that's reminiscent of the 90s and stuff...
HSMS: I will say that it is beautiful to see such a focused 21 year old, how do you deal with issues of age versus experience? Do you find that you have to put much more effort to prove your abbilities?
DONOFRIO: Aww thank you And no that's never been something I even think about. Older artists are typically intimidated by me if they know my work. I've been making art my entire life and for as long as I've been in school I've had formal art training from alot of different places, my whole life has been set up to get to the goal I'm heading for. I know alot more about art production and it's theory than most people and I'm more driven than them too. I'm fully confident in myself, I don't think I need to prove myself to anyone more than I already have
HSMS: In terms of the art scene and possibly in comparison to the east coast, how is LA treating female artists these days?
I'm not really sure, I think that the galleries here celebrate women artists as much as they do men. Ideas are more important
character/icon/genius/scientist/chef...celebrity or not/real or not? You decide which to answer.
DONOFRIO: hmmm…..probably
☆SAILOR MOON☆
CALLA DONOFRIO BIO : Calla Donofrio is a collage artist from the Los Angeles county who now resides in Valencia and is attending CalArts as a fine arts major. She has done gallery shows in various parts of southern California as well as other states, Canada and will be showing in London this January. She has done album art for artists like Mater Suspiria Vision, Party Trash, Meddicine, Silver Strain, as well as other witch house bands and new artists of various genres.
☆SAILOR MOON☆
CALLA DONOFRIO BIO : Calla Donofrio is a collage artist from the Los Angeles county who now resides in Valencia and is attending CalArts as a fine arts major. She has done gallery shows in various parts of southern California as well as other states, Canada and will be showing in London this January. She has done album art for artists like Mater Suspiria Vision, Party Trash, Meddicine, Silver Strain, as well as other witch house bands and new artists of various genres.
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