The Arts & Culture Journal

Abe Honest is the pseudonym of an anonymous artist who approached Fallyrag with a portfolio of highly engaging collage works. The reason for all the secrecy and mystery slowly becomes apparent as we grow accustomed to his works and the ideas that flow through them.

Abe Honest hints candidly at his Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and his art is a continuing narrative of revealing and retracting statements to the viewer. “I was trying to express my habit but also cover up the fact to leave the viewer pondering with their own thoughts and meanings. I want them to appreciate the ways and processes of the collages.”

As Abe’s confidence has grown, his collages have been stripped down - creating more free space and concentrating the audience’s focus on particular elements. A sure sign of an artist in buoyant mood, these unashamedly naked works take the viewer on a journey. Often the juxtaposition of visual elements focus on a starting point with various lines, marks, colours and typographic hints playing traffic warden for the rest of the piece. You can’t help feeling helplessly carried away by the artist yet also privileged to share such an adventure. 

Although sporadic in execution and aesthetic, each piece is bound by creative threads of imagination. Abe elaborates, “Some of these pieces in particular portray irritated and diligent marks that are partially covered by the various pictures and stickers to soften my deterioration.”

Inflated organs surrounded by disproportionate people highlight a canny awareness of body and mind. Science textbook diagrams are complimented by dated magazine cut-outs and stylistic illustrations, sitting suspiciously side-by-side. The onus is very much of the inner workings of the human body and the disproportionate scales appear to be asking: