A lot goes into it when it’s hand-carved,” he explains. “People try to mimic my style on Photoshop, but it’s not the same. Since the images are printer-paper-sized, carving them out with a blade is tricky, but Woods says this is what sets his work apart from others’. After trying out different ideas, he sketches a pattern onto the top image, so he knows what shapes to cut out with his X-Acto knife. At his glass desk, a table lamp illuminates the top image, while a floor lamp shines through the bottom image from under the glass table-top. To achieve his distinctive look, Woods layers two images on top of each other. Even now, it’s clear his newer works are made by hand, and tangibility is part of the point. Soon he was adding in swooshes of pastel, staples and stickers, then using materials like duct tape and sandpaper to distress the imagery. Back in 2015, when he was first starting out, Woods focused on objects and logos, practicing on an iPad in his spare time while he worked night-shifts as a dishwasher. What he now describes as his signature style is more refined than his earlier work. “I find commercial work less stressful than my personal projects,” he says, since clients often pick out the source material in advance. Currently, he’s creating artwork for a Spotify campaign, and a book cover he designed, his first ever, was recently selected by The New York Times as one of the best covers of 2022. It helps that he’s prolific, often sharing four or five new collages with his followers in one week. The emotional valence of Woods’ imagery appears to appeal to a wide Instagram audience, and most of his clients find him through social media, he says. One of his collages features a photograph of Zendaya, originally published in Vogue Italia, where the actress gazes off-screen in near biblical woe. I go after the emotion.” This is reflected in his subjects’ poses, too, which aren’t always cheery. “I like refurbished things, second-hand clothes, stuff with feeling,” he says. He cites the holy trinity of Warhol, Haring and Basquiat as inspiration and mainly uses analogue photos. Woods’ subjects tend to be modern-day celebrities, but his collages have a nostalgic feel to them.
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