Andrew Rice

Andrew Rice lives and works in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Andrew makes analog collage pieces using comic books from the 1980’s and early 1990’s as source imagery. 

You can see more of Andrew’s work in Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/purplehat/?hl=en

Did you grow up reading comics?

Yes! I was reading the various X-Men books as a kid. I have a particular nostalgia for the X-Cutioner’s Song crossover. It was the first time I had seen a more long-form story that extended through a number of different artists and my mind was blown. When Image Comics released Spawn, I thought that was the coolest thing ever.

I never really stopped reading comics, but definitely tapered off as I grew older. I found myself getting reacquainted with comics after college. I was living in New York City and would stop into the iconic comic book store, Forbidden Planet on my way to and from work. 

Is there an important comic shop or friend who opened your eyes to comics?

I grew up in a pretty small town and we did not have any comic shops, so I only had access to the comics stocked at our local grocery store on the carousel racks. I do miss that format of being able to discover a comic by chance at the grocery store or pharmacy. Now, it seems like you have to specifically seek out comics at a specialty shop, online, or through your local library. 

How do comics inspire or inform the work you make?

I have been using comic book imagery from my childhood era. The imagery, colors, print and paper quality are all nostalgic hallmarks of a time when ‘the future’ was full of hope, optimism, enthusiasm. It felt like we were on an upward trajectory with no end in sight. That future is here, and it is not the future we anticipated.

From my current working artist statement:

“My work at the moment is focused around the medium of collage. These collage pieces, meticulously crafted from vintage comic books, fuse diverse fragments to reflect overlooked realities. Serving as a distinctive prism to our globalized age, these vibrant tapestries resonate with profound significance. Amidst the spectral presence of unrealized futures, my work becomes a pulsating echo of our cultural history. Through this transformative visualization, we traverse the nebulous boundary between memory and reality, led by a discerning comic-inspired lens.

I have been approaching this body of work through the theme of lost futures. It reflects on the enthusiasm and hopefulness of the futures that were promised. We now find ourselves in that future and it is not the future that was assured.”

How long have you been making work that references comics?

For about 7 years now. 

Have you ever been afraid or worried about making artwork that references comics?

NO! I have been so motivated by collage as a way of re-appropriating existing imagery into new ideas. In this post-capitalist era we find ourselves in at the moment, collage becomes a way of making sense of the world around us through a lens into the past. The comic book has been my particular inspiration in this, specifically seeking out the background imagery and the filler around the main characters.