Taken from the Summer 2019 issue of Wonderland. Order your copy of the issue now.

Hold tight, collage artist Seana Gavin is about to take us on an intergalactic trip. Her cut-and-paste collages transport you to unexplored corners of the cosmos, where the past and future overlap in an immersive time warp of the fantastical and bizarre.

Though she plays with sensory overload, corrupted perspective and the surreal, the London-based artist appropriates images from everyday life – making her work feel like a heady dose of déjà vu. She decorates apocalyptic, supernatural landscapes with everything from exotic animals and geometric skyscrapers to alien planets and disco balls. With Gavin you can catch a ride on an escalator through a tech-trippy desert, then slip ‘n’ slide down a waterfall past towering mushrooms and radioactive green frogs.

And while each of her pieces conjures a different virtual reality, Gavin’s distinctive style makes them immediately recognisable as her own. After working with her earlier this year on our Spring cover, we reunite to discuss her influences, approach and aspirations as an artist.

WL Hey Seana! Let’s look back to the beginning – do you have any memories of art growing up?

SG I spent a chunk of my childhood growing up in Woodstock, NY. Woodstock has a history of attracting artists and writers since the 1920s, so you could feel the influence of this throughout the town. There was generally a very free, open-minded approach to living there and creativity was encouraged. My mum also had a background in art, being a former student at Central Saint Martins. I started to become more aware of artists and art history when I was eight years-old, after she gave my sister and I her art postcard collection.

WL You’ve mentioned before that you started out scrapbooking. What draws you to the tactile nature of collage work?

SG Yes, before I started making collage art I used to put together scrapbooks using images that inspired me. There are similarities in the process, as I always gave thought to the juxtapositions of the imagery and how the colours related to each other. With both, something starts to happen when
I begin to place images down on the page. When physically holding the material, something connects to my subconscious and it flows in a very organic, natural way.

WL How about when you start a new piece of work, what’s your approach?

SG I start with a theme in mind; then I’ll go through my forever-expanding library of old books and archive material and start pulling together imagery. I’ll begin to roughly place things on the page, and then it’s a process of elimination. The rest is quite intuitive.

WL Why are you drawn to juxtaposing imagery from the past, present and future?

SG When I try to visualise future environments, even if half of the natural world was wiped out, I imagine there will be residues or structures from the current or ancient world. Maybe, when I combine these different eras, the landscapes become timeless.

WL Do you want people to use your art as a source of escapism?

SG Yes, I’d like the viewer to feel they are entering another world. That’s why it’s
important to me that the environments have a real sense of depth.

WL Looking forward… What else are you hoping to achieve this year?

SG I would like to create more of my moving stop-motion films. I would also love to have a publication made of my work, which I have talked about for a long
time – so hopefully this is the year to make it happen!

WL Amazing, 100% would keep on the coffee table! And what’s the big dream after that?

SG This is embarrassing… but always wanted to see my work on a giant billboard. My main aim is to have a bigger audience of people enjoying my work, and filling them with inspiration.

Go behind-the-scenes below…