Edvard Derkert (b.1964) Stockholm, Sweden
From early on Edvard Derkert had a strong need of self expression. He took up collage at the age of 12, cutting up his parents’ LIFE magazines. Later on he was inspired by the cover art of Frank Zappa’s LPs. In his teens he began experimenting with different sort of montage techniques in music and film but he more or less abandoned visual art when he experienced the thrill of playing music himself.

Edvard studied music, literature and history at Stockholm University but has no formal education in art. He worked as a music journalist, teacher and illustrator and has held workshops and lectures on the history and practice of collage.

In 1991, Aftonbladet – a major Swedish newspaper – started to publish Edvard’s collages. He was asked to make illustrations for other magazines, but found it hard to find source material he could cut out.  Not wanting to leave holes in the library books, he began to use the computer for his assignments.

By and by he found the computer to be the best tool not only for illustrations, but also for making collages. In his digital collage practice he misses some of the qualities of traditional collage making, like smell and touch but maintains that the control the computer brings him in the long run compensates for this.
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