Alexis Anne Mackenzie

San Francisco artist Alexis Anne Mackenzie aptly calls herself a "paper surgeon." All of her work is done by hand, painstakingly clipped from collected books and artfully assembled, customarily to spell visually enigmatic words or phrases. One can decipher these messages simply by reading the titles, though of course this spoils the fun — Youthless, This Isn't What It Looks Likes, Slow Dance, Never Be Sad, It Matters to Me.

Technically they are collages, but I've never enjoyed describing them in those terms ... I feel like there is a general concept out there of what collage is and tends to look like, which doesn't apply to what I do at all. My general intent, throughout all my work, is to portray the world as a flawed thing of beauty — a place that shines brightly, but has a dark side to match.

You can read an interview at Fecal Face, and learn more at The Beholder. For more collage(esque) goodness — and happily there is a lot of it! — check out her blog, Cocoon Balloon, and her flickr. I hope to meet you one day in SF, Alexis!