Morgan Jesse Lappin

“I

t somehow seemed perfectly normal that Sol, the ghost of an elderly Jewish New Yorker trapped inside a muppet, would join our interview with Morgan Jesse Lappin. Morgan is a multi-hyphenate collage artist, musician and occasional puppeteer, based in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, who brims over with the same gleeful energy as a Jim Henson Studios creation. He has a magpie’s drive towards serendipitous collecting: rescuing records, books, comics and paper ephemera, often plucked right off the streets.

Music is not only a soundtrack to his creative process, it’s a recurrent focal point with images of stereo electronics appearing as architectural elements in his meticulously collaged “City of Boom” piece to the real and imaginary album covers he has made over the years. He also created the cover to the new Dust & Grooves Publications book Vintage and Rarities: 100 Cool, Crazy and Hard to Find Guitar Pedals. We caught up with him over a lively video call, and email, to discuss his influences, artistic practice, Terry Gilliam, Frank Zappa and other titans of psychedelia.

How did you get into vinyl collecting?

My parents. My dad was a bad ass weed-smoking Jew from the Bronx and my mom is from Jamaica, Queens. Both lovers of music which was an important part of my childhood and continues to be till this day.

There’s also a thing called Freecycle. So, I used to live in Orange County, New York which is like maybe an hour and a half north of the city. People would be giving away free records, but what I didn’t realize is that most of the people [doing this] were really old widows whose husbands had passed away and they had all this classical music. Engelbert Humperdinck.

I would go to these houses, psyched to pick up big record collections but they would turn out to be horrible! I would also stay talking to these widows for hours because they’re lonely and had no one else to talk to. So I would go to these old ladies’ houses, taking all their dead husbands’ records. I used to come home with all these records. Some of them were good, some were bad and I would buy in between, obviously. I did a moving job for a dj and he said “All these records, you can have. I don’t need them anymore.” It was hundreds of records. Many of them were damaged. There was dirt. They were kept in a dungeon basement, but a lot of them were great. It led to me finding out about a lot of bands that I wouldn’t have if I didn’t get that collection. It was a great intro to a lot of new music.

What is it about vinyl that inspires you to keep collecting?

A combination of the music and the art on the cover and the physical handling of the object. It’s a responsibility. It’s something that must be shown respect and maintenance.

It sounds like your parents musical choices were formative. If I understand correctly, the foundation of your record collection came from them?

Right, definitely. My dad is a bit of a music junkie, so his collection was shared by me… only thing was, I was never allowed to play a record on my own. You know, he didn’t want me to scratch records, put them away incorrectly, or god forbid blow the speakers. So all I had to do was ask. Fast forward to when I was 12, when I blew his B&W Speakers.

Were they willing to part with their records or did you sneak off into the night with them?

[laughing] They were willing! The records were in the attic. They had got tired of dealing with the vinyl. It became mine. It was fine.

What was the first album you ever bought?

Well, the first album that I asked my pops to buy was the Heavy Metal movie soundtrack at a store that no longer exists called Crazy Eddie, in Nanuet, NY. I was just a little kid when he sat me down to watch [the film] and it changed my life ever since. The album art is epic, it had screen shots of the movie on the inside, and had two records with some of the most bad ass tunes around at the time.

Heavy Metal Movie Soundtrack. The first album that I asked my pops to buy was the Heavy Metal Movie Soundtrack at a store that no longer exists called Crazy Eddie’s in Nanuet, NY. I would say probably around 1986. I was just a little kid when he sat me down to watch it, and it changed my life ever since. The album art is epic, it had screen shots of the movie on the inside, and had 2 records with some of the most bad ass tunes around at the time. The soundtrack and movie both inspired me artistically and musically.

Inside of the Heavy Metal SoundTrack – Screenshots of the movie

So let’s talk about R. Stevie Moore. What was the first album of his that you encountered?

My long time friend Kurt Blake of the band The Freejays is an eclectic guy, and usually gives me great music suggestions. In 2014 he mentioned R. Stevie Moore and I fell into a six-month rabbit hole listening to his almost infinite number of self-produced songs. Most of these songs have videos that he also made himself. He became an immediate inspiration to me in regards to both music and art. He was born in 1952 and his father Bob Moore was a busy studio musician in Nashville, Tennessee. R. Stevie Moore fell in love with music at a young age. He was obsessed with the tunes of Zappa, The Beatles, Hendrix, 10CC and XTC. He went on to become known as the Godfather of lo-fi music. He completed over three-hundred and fifty albums and countless songs. In late 2014, I saw him for the first time at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn and made sure to befriend him.

What was that initial meeting with Moore like? What do you think it was that led to your friendship?

After the Knitting Factory show, I grabbed the Glad Music album and ran over to have him sign it. He was pretty happy to do so, and handed me a bottle of some red wine to chug. Every time I would see him live, I would do the same thing. I own four of his records which were all bought at his shows. To me it was amazing to befriend one of the most accomplished unknown musicisions alive. I still follow and chat with him sometimes through Facebook but I believe he’s retired from playing live.

R. Stevie Moore – LO FI Hi Fives, Glad Music, In 2012 a good friend of mine introduced me to the one and only, R. Stevie Moore. Since 1968, he has self-released approximately 400 albums, mostly influenced by The Beatles, Zappa, The Beach Boys, and XTC. I fell into a 6 month rabbit hole of only listening to RSM. Eventually I had the chance to see him live at the Cake Shop in NYC, and we immediately became friends. He’s a major influence in regards to my music and I would suggest everyone to check his tunes.

Which are your favorite albums by him?

I would go with Phonography, which was his first official release in 1974. Second, I would go with Glad Music. These are the first albums I listened to, and will always be my favorite.

Next up, Young Marble Giants Colossal Youth. This is an album that I love as well and I’m also a fan of the singer Alison Statton’s later band Weekend. Young Marble Giants had a sound like no one else, stripped down and kind of icy, yet full of emotion. How did you first discover their music?

When I moved to Brooklyn in 2007, my first job was working for Rabbit Movers. There was one job I was working with my brother and the client was an old indie rock radio DJ and wanted to get rid of most of his albums. He bestowed upon me close to one hundred records. I uncovered a ton of bands that became some of my favorites, including the Young Marble Giants album. I had never heard anything like it before. Like you mentioned, it’s very minimalistic, with some songs only using a metronome as a drum track. I would say my favorite track of theirs is “Choci Loni”. They actually have a few songs that played on the show Bored to Death, an old murder mystery show on HBO starring Jason Schwartzman, Zach Galifianakis, and Ted Danson. It’s airy simplicity and rhythm is perfect for concentrating on making collage.

Young Marble Giants – Colossal Youth. Great music to make collage to, simplistic, beautiful, and keeps your rhythm in sync!

So another album you shared during the photo shoot is Record Ignite! Rebels Promise Change. I see that they are from Orange County, NY, where you also grew up. Were you part of that local punk scene?

In 1997, I started to hang with a crew of punk kids in Orange County, NY called Town Hall. It was the name of their record label and home to bands like God Awful, E.B.S., The Wazoo’s, The Sex Machines and more. We used to gather at Ryan Shannon’s house in Blooming Grove for some of the most epic shows I’ve ever been to. You had one room with a band recording for an upcoming album, a full on punk show in the garage, kids flipping burgers in the kitchen, porn blasting in the living room, everyone slamming Mountain Dew and a bunch of us making packages of Town Hall vinyl to do trades with other punk labels from around the world.

It was a raw scene. One of my favorite bands from Town Hall was Record Ignite. A lot of Town Hall bands shared some of the same members, sometimes playing different instruments. But they all had a passion for the D.C. punk scene. Record Ignite! had a sound still incomparable to anything else i’ve ever heard till this very day. Lyrics I can rebel to with, music that made me wanna lose my shit to.

Record Ignite! – Rebels Promise Change. This is an amazing record. Was pressed in 1997 on the TOWN HALL label, based out of Orange County, NY. This raw crew of punks created an amazing underground scene with a roster of bands such as The Sex Machines, E.B.S., God Awful amongst others.

When I was looking at your work in preparation for this, I kept thinking of the animation on Monty Python.

Oh yeah! Terry Gilliam.

Yes! I was wondering if that was an influence for you?

Definitely. Have you seen the video of Terry Gilliam explaining how he makes the animation? It’s insane! Of course, when you see these people who are so talented, they make everything look like it’s so easy… and you’re like ‘Oh great. Whatever.’

First off, his haircut in that video. You will die. It’s basically like Prince Adam, He-man. It’s a bowl cut that just comes down. His hair is amazing in that video.

You should look up that video. You’ll be blown away. He was so active. He was in the movies and there was a lot of animation in the movies [as well as] the show itself. When you see the process, how long it takes, you start to wonder how the fuck does [he] find the time to do all this? It’s crazy, crazy. Every single movement in those animations, you’ll see, it’s insane. You gotta be pretty insane to do it.

How did you first encounter his work? Was it through one of his films or the show? I think my first awareness of him was through watching The Adventures of Baron Munchausen as a child.

Oh wow. That movie is fucking insane.

Yes, that’s a big 80s movie to warp your brain forever.

Right, Robin Williams as a talking head.

It’s an amazing mix of live action, animation and theatrical stage dressing.

There’s not too many movies like Baron Munchausen, that’s for damn sure. That’s a very special movie. There’s another Terry Gilliam movie, it’s a lot darker–although Baron Munchausen can get pretty fucking dark.

Oh, City of Lost Children. I haven’t seen that one in a while but then it popped up and I was like, that move is Iiiinsane. Very dark.

Harry Nilsson – Son of Dracula (Inside contains a photo collage.) Nilsson is a huge musical influence. His history is amazing, although he had a lot of hardships, and passed early due to his excessive drinking. He has one of the most beautiful voices I’ve ever heard, and was one of the best friends to all the members of The Beatles.

Isn’t that a French director? The guy who did Amelie?

Yes, it’s definitely French. It’s cool that you bring that up! I guess the big thing for me as a kid was The Holy Grail. There’s a lot of animation in that one too, because [they animate] God. Yeah, [Gilliam] was a big influence. I love Monty Python.

So, another influence is Frank Zappa?

Yeah. My dad is a stoner and he loved Zappa. His go-to Zappa albums were “Overnight Sensation” or “Apostrophe.” Those two albums, he would play a lot. Probably, the song that stuck with me most was “Montana.” Do you know that one?

Frank Zappa – Rare Meat – My Dad is a huge fan. He would get stoned and school me on all of his music.

No. Being from Maryland, I should know his music better.

My dad was very in the pocket with what he listened to. It was Zappa, Zeppelin, he loved Todd Rundgren, Steely Dan of course, The Beatles, Beach Boys, The Turtles, The Buckinghams. He really liked doowop and stuff like that, Lou Christie. I still listen to that stuff today. I love The Turtles. The Turtles are fucking amazing. 10cc is a big influence. Have you ever heard of them? “I’m Not In Love” is 10cc. If you heard it you would know it immediately. They’re very different. They’re like the English Zappa, Queen and The Beatles. That’s saying a lot, but they really are. They actually went through like five different band names before coming up with 10cc which is the average amount a man ejaculates. That’s actually where it came from… and I didn’t plan that joke. I did not plan that one.

Do you ever buy albums solely for the art?

I haven’t bought any albums for a while actually. I do have a ton of albums that I have specifically for collage use for when the time comes.

My apartment is organized chaos. Organizing my various collections is a constant chore and never ends. I have a bunch of albums that are set aside for art. So these are separated from the ones I listen to.

Which album covers do you see as having the most visual impact on your own artwork?

As far as I can remember, the first album other than the Heavy Metal soundtrack that caught my attention was the artwork Roger Dean did for Yes. It sucks you into a completely different world and I fantasized about visiting them. The art complimented the music perfectly.

Besides that record there are two others that stand out. The first is created by Dave McMacken [for Mothers of Invention Overnight Sensation]. Hard to even describe other than it being an acid trip glimpse into the mind of Frank Zappa himself. The art work extends from the back to the front so opening the album would show the complete painting. The work has a Salvador Dalí vibe for sure.

Then of course there’s The Beatles Sgt.Pepper, the best known collage art album cover in history. And finally there’s the original art for the Yes album, a Time And A Word. It’s simple, classy, and sexy. The work was done by a design group known as Graphreaks which I tried to research but couldn’t find much info. Besides all that, I own a book called 1000 Record Covers which is a mind blowing collection throughout history.

Thank God It’s Friday. One of my favorite pieces of album art.

Frank Zappa – Overnight Sensation. Here’s another album where both the music and art work combined inspired all my creative endeavors.

Have you ever bought or acquired a record just based on the cover art, like an absurd cover, and then discovered the music was something you were really into?

That’s something I have never done. It sounds crazy. I’ve just encountered so many records… Listen, being here in Bushwick, a lot of these record stores just put free records out. So a lot of the time, that need of finding an album with an amazing cover, I just find it on the streets. Consistently. Consistently. So, I never even have to enter these record stores. Which is horrible to say.

I find a lot of material on the streets. That’s another great source of material. People throw out books all the time. When I first started [collaging], I only used encyclopedias. Years ago, I used to find full sets of encyclopedias on the streets. Calling Ubers to pick me up so I could throw all these fucking books into a trunk and go back home. It was like finding gold, treasure. I was like OH MY GOD! World Book Encyclopedia from 1975? AAAAHHH!

People throw out records all the time. The weirdest shit you never knew existed until you find it on the streets. It’s crazy.

Firesign Theater Predicts – In The Next World, You’re on your own.I would stare at this album as a kid and the imagery added to my vast imagination. Artwork was created by the very talented William Stout.

Firesign Theater Predicts – In The Next World, You’re on your own. Back cover.

What are some of the album covers you have designed? Which was your favorite to work on?

I’ve done work for two great bands, Prince of Lilies and Brandi and The Alexanders. Two very different bands. Sadly, not as many bands press physical albums these days. So they’re really digital album covers. I’ve done two covers for Prince of Lilies one of which was produced by Steve Albini (Producer of Nirvana, The Pixies, The Stooges and more). Brandi and The Alexanders are a powerful R&B/Soul band, and they’re amazing to work with. It was a great project since they’re Brooklyn artists such as myself. Eager to do more work for bands.

Tell us about your fictional album covers. What’s the process for creating those? Do you imagine what the music sounds like? How much backstory do you create for these musicians?

I’ve collaged with cassette tapes, 8 track tapes, CD’s, records and their covers. I had planned to do more with creating fictitious bands but I took a bit of a different path since then. It’s still a project I want to work on. I’ve been working on an album of my own since 2007. I just can’t find the time to wrap it all together but I’ve been working on transferring my music to cassette tapes where the cassettes and inserts of each tape is collaged. I hope to make the release sometime next year. For now the album is free to listen to on Soundcloud along with my old band Baba Yaga.

Can you take us through your typical workday when you have a creative project? If there is a typical one…

It depends on what I’m working on at the time. I feel like a lot of collage artists have a consistent style, but my style jumps. I see one thing while making a piece and it leads to another thing. You know the show Mr. Show? How each sketch goes into the next? That’s kind of like how I make my art. Each piece is a window to the next piece. I never know what’s going to happen. It’s a surprise to me and that’s exciting. Because I have so much source material, there’s so many images that can inspire [me] to do so many different things. I have ADHD and I’m all over the place.

I have been a full-time artist for the last three years, but I have been making art since 2007. Since the pandemic, it’s been pretty crazy… things change, I sleep a little bit later. I’m a little more stressed out, so my day starts later. It’s not the healthiest. This pandemic has thrown my schedule into chaos, I tried to create a schedule for myself. I work only when my brain works, which hasn’t been working as much in 2020. With that being said, I was able to create a lot of cool stuff this year, especially for the [Vintage & Rarities] book and other individual pieces. Working with galleries, things really picked up this year. I was able to obtain someone who believes in me, who is now my manager. Thank god.

Of course, with the book [Vintage & Rarities], it’s an amazing opportunity. I am so psyched to be a part of this project. It’s amazing! Amazing! I’m a musician too, so it’s double for me to be involved with something that’s so epic. This is like the bible of guitar pedals. I was brought up very musically, so being involved with something like this, with the people who are involved with that book, it’s a very big deal. My number one is Frank Zappa and his pedals are in this book. J. Mascis, the list goes on. I don’t even think Eilon realizes, because he’s the maker of this book. I told him I think this book is going to be worth a lot of money down the road because it’s a limited run. It’s a very important book to anybody who plays any instrument, whether it’s drums or bass or guitar.. It’s a history book of cool stuff, you know?

The Wrestling Album (WWF.) I grew up during the beginning years of the WWF and it was very exciting to be a part of. The characters were colorful and loud, and the theatrics were mind blowing. It certainly added to my personal character growing up. They were all giants, it was amazing to see these titans clash and it was almost as if I was watching the gods of Olympus fight themselves.

So, we have established there isn’t a typical day. But, perhaps, there is something you do in preparation for working. Maybe a workspace mis en scene?

Yeah. Smoking weed. I would say that’s the first thing [laughs]. Coffee, putting on some music. So, this year has been a very different year. If you had asked me last year, I would have given you an answer that would have coincided with many years before that. This year is so fucked up, some days I am really stressed in the mornings. I’m bad because I watch a lot of news. I always have like CBS news live on. It’s the most unhealthy fucking thing ever but I can’t help myself… I completely burnt out my brain. As far as 2020 goes, I wake up, I smoke weed, I drink coffee, I work a few hours of CBS [news], my brain explodes and then I eat. Then finally, I am conditioned to get to work on a few different projects. I’m a musician and I also do a lot of things with puppets.

Tell me about these puppets!

I’ll go get my puppet and he’ll tell you.

Oh my god, he’s such a muppet.

This is Sol. I made him at FAO Schwarz. Before they closed, they had a muppet making booth. You could choose the color, the nose, the eyes, everything. He kind of looks like Bernie Sanders’ cousin. The story behind Saul is that he contains the soul of a New York City jew who was killed by a street cleaning truck in the late 70s. Somehow his soul was put into this guy. I do a lot of karaoke with him. The last one I did was “Big Shot” by Billy Joel, before that I did “Vaseline” by Stone Temple Pilots. So, all the biggest hits.

[Morgan proceeds to give an off-the-cuff puppet show with Sol. Turns out he sounds a bit like Bernie Sanders mixed with Marge Simpson’s chain-smoking sisters].

How does Saul spend his days? I guess he’s a ghost puppet?

Every once in a while I will do a video with him. He has a little following. I’ll tell you, I have too many projects but it’s hard to ignore this guy. You’ll understand when you see him performing.

Speaking of muppets and music, did you watch The Muppet Show as a child?

Of course! Yeah, that was definitely a big influence.

Did you have a favorite musical performance?

There were a lot. I guess, maybe, Mark Hamil. He did a tap dance scene. It’s very interesting. I love Mark Hamil.

Do you listen to music while working and if so, what are your go-to albums?

There’s a lot! But here are some off the top of my head: Talk Talk Laughing Stock, Mr. Bungle California, Tommy Guerrero Soul Food Taqueria, Frank Zappa Overnight Sensation, Cool Calm Pete Lost, Wild Nothing Nocturne, Soundgarden Superunknown, Descendents Somery, The Dead Texan self-titled, The Turtles Battle of The Bands, Dream Theater Awake, Beauty Queen Out of Touch, Self Gizmodgery and Fountains of Wayne Utopia.

Do you “soundtrack” your artwork, i.e. does the piece you are working on influence the type of music you listen to while creating it?

Sometimes I listen to music, and amazingly enough, sometimes I make my collage cuts while I watch movies or shows thanks to ADHD. For the most part I put my Spotify on shuffle when I make collage. I have over 20K songs so it’s a good mish mosh of everything I love. Music helps the rhythm of the process physically. I fall into the beat and I enter a realm where nothing worries me, my troubles disappear, and I’m immersed in creating and absorbing the music. Almost like an out of body experience.

Fat Boys – Fat Boys. My parents were hoarders, and we always had a lot of art, knick knacks, and books. A lot of images to absorb but they all wind up finding a way to influence the works that I’ve made throughout the years.Gotta love the movie Disorderlies!FLASH (Peter Banks band after he left Yes)

How did you get involved with Eilon and creating the cover art for the Vintage & Rarities book?

I think there was a piece he must have seen, called “City of Boom.” It’s a city I created, hand-cut, hundreds of hand-cut images. In this city there are towers that are tape decks, audio equipment and televisions that serve as part of the architecture in the city. So people are living in a musical city, it’s all infused together. I think that was one of the pieces that he saw. So, I was like, tell me about the book. Tell me about the collection of pedals. This was right up my alley because I love both art and music. Obviously, respect for how he created the book… It’s a labor of love and it’s an amazing journey to be a part of something so deep. It’s a spider web that connects musicians, people who collect instruments… it goes deep.

He was like, I have all these pedals. Can you make a city? We bounced back and forth. He played a role in the direction of the piece too. We went through different variations. He saw things I didn’t. It’s great, when you are an artist and someone sees something different than you. We collaborated until the very end of the piece, down to specifics of the city and how it would be built. He played a major role in it and he did a great job with me, orchestrating it….

When he came to visit me, we looked at each other and I was like “Have we known each other our whole lives? Is there a chunk of memory missing when we met?” It felt like he had a good understanding of my direction. He had a very good idea of who I was and it was great to collaborate. It turned into something that was both me and him. I wanted to make sure that this city represented his travels and his experiences. That it feels like this is the epicenter of where the book was birthed. This city of pedals. The number one goal was that he felt comfortable and in line with this piece.

Vintage & Rarities book cover by Morgan Jesse Lappin.

Did you do this piece digitally?

I don’t usually do digital pieces. I feel like I’m kind of snooty by saying that, but I’ve always been strictly analog. But… there are certain situations when you can’t do that. I like to challenge myself and I try to do things differently visually, to make it look analog.

Yes, visual depth is obvious in it. But I assumed you went digital, because how would you get photos like this of all the pedals?

Right. I definitely have to manipulate a lot, with the sizes. Like with the piece I showed you (“City of Boom”) and the cover of the book, I like to show depth. So, always, at the bottom of the piece, the pedals are bigger. As it reaches the top it starts to go into the distance. I want people to feel like they can go into this city. They can go and walk through it like a labyrinth. Depth is very important. If you do everything the same size it looks flat. The wah wah pedals, I turned on the side to show going into the distance. There are points of the city you can go into deeply. It’s mentally interactive. That was the main point: It’s a city you can look into within your own mind.

A lot of it is Frankentstein. Some of the pedals are hidden… it was a very interesting project.

Transmission City – 2018 (City made of real architecture, audio components, and televisions) 2ft x 2ft. This was eventually colorized digitally, and was used as art work in a short run of collaborative jacks I made in 2018.

What are you working on now-ish, in 2020? What’s your big focus?

The last piece I just finished took a long time. Took about five months. Throughout the years, I’ve started making bigger pieces. The bigger pieces take a long time. I get detailed. Also, collaging is very therapeutic for me. I don’t know how the fuck I do it, but I can watch a movie and cut collages at the same time. I mean, if it’s a foreign film, forget about it. I have to watch the subtitles, but somehow I am able to do it. The last crazy piece I was immersed in is forty inches in diameter which is a lot bigger than I had realized until I saw what forty inches in diameter looks like. It’s like a huge circle tabletop.

Throughout the years me and my dad collected lots of comics, so I have tons of material. So many comics. Of course, before touching them, I see if they are worth anything… I have a lot of comic books and I made a piece that consists of hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of characters’ hair. People ask if I count, but I counted everything it would slow down the process.

When I’m in the groove I gotta keep on busting it out. With these projects, especially that one, cutting takes the most time. Like I said, I am cutting out hair from comic books. I try to do it exactly the way that it’s detailed. Down to microscopic little curls of the hair, because that definition and those specifics mean a lot to me. I know whoever is going to appreciate the piece will see these minor details. I take a lot of time and painstakingly cut pieces out… Then the next phase is putting it all together.

You’re like the ultimate hair stylist. Are you using scissors or an X-Acto knife?

I use an X-Acto knife. I just feel like you can get to certain things quicker with it. I’ve used it throughout the years. I’m fine-tuned and accurate. But also, I have to be very quick. I have to make sure I’m accurate and fast or else it would take forever.

If you were working with a commercial client who wants a collage piece, what is your turnaround there?

I feel like people in business can’t conceptualize how long certain things will take. They push you. But they aren’t the ones with an artistic mind. They are business and time-oriented. Collage takes a long time. There’s so many different layers to it. You’re collecting your material. Finding the source material. I’m lucky enough to have all these comic books. Most people don’t. Sourcing is number one. It’s like going on a hunt. If you are hired to make a certain piece, you may have to go to Ebay. For me, I try to be specific. I will only use vintage books. I tell myself I don’t want to use anything published after the late 80s. I also like images that are matte finish. Like old LIFE magazines, they aren’t glossy. That’s what I love.

Usually the person that hires you doesn’t understand what it takes to make the piece. It’s a struggle. They all think you can make exactly what they need you to make, but it’s not that easy. Remember, I am subject to my source material. I am at the mercy of what exists, what is printed physically. So if someone said, Oh, I love horses. I want you to make one big horse out of a thousand horses. I would have to go buy a ton of horsey books off Ebay to find source material. I didn’t really start doing commission pieces until recently because it is stressful. People obviously want what they have created in their mind. They don’t want to deviate. Sometimes, when you leave it in the hands of an artist, you gotta let them put their own touch on it. Sometimes, at the beginning of a commissioned job, they’re like just be you! We love you for what your aesthetic is here, just do what you think. So you do what you think. Then you show them and they’re like, This is great but… this, this, this, this, this. And I’m like well, you just told me to do what I want to do! It’s very stressful. There’s a difference between being an artist and a graphic designer. Very big difference. The graphic designer’s job is to match what the client needs. When you are an artist, you do it from your brain. I learned this the hard way. They may say just do you. But, when a business hires you, there are other minds at stake that see things [differently] and if you aren’t making those things happen, they are going to get frustrated. It becomes a frustrating process. Now all of a sudden you are a slave to what their imagination is creating. It’s very difficult to hit it on the head when you are not able to go inside their brain.

You run a collective of artists doing collage. What’s the story with that?

That started in 2013 and it’s changed. People come and go. It’s been through a lot of different variations. Here in Bushwick, in the building I live in, I have a big basement. I used to do art shows and called it the Brooklyn Collage Collective Gallery. Obviously that can’t be done anymore. So it’s been tough. There’s a lot of ideas that I have for it but there’s only me working on it. Right now, really what it is, it’s a website geared towards interviewing groundbreaking collage artists around the world.

I was wondering if you could talk about the collage art scene. Is it growing? Did it have a moment? Is it bigger in Europe?

Funny enough, I would say Instagram helped collage to get more notoriety. I am not exactly sure what the reason is but instagram seemed to boost the popularity of collage. Maybe it’s a younger generation that has taken to collage. Demographically, there’s probably more women collage artists than male.

When I started the Brooklyn Collage Collective I had never heard of any collective doing it. I just said: Hey, I’m a collector. I want to make a group and collect my favorite collage artists, locally.

So that’s what I did. We have shown in Australia, London, Mexico.

Bonzo Goes to Washington – 5 Minutes.

What has been your most ambitious project or event that you have done? And did you pull it off?

Yeah! Interesting that you ask. Probably the first event I did, in 2008. I had just moved to Bushwick and I was far out there, on the Halsey stop. At that time, I had never curated a show before. I had done a few group shows at a place called Niagara on the Lower East Side. It was the only place I could find that did group shows. I used Craigslist. I didn’t know where else to look.

And I was like, wow people are actually saying good things about my artwork. This is crazy! Obviously, it made me feel good. I met people and we would talk and I thought this is cool. So, I made a show in my building called Collorgy. I put a call on Craigslist and basically accepted anyone who responded. It turned out to be sixty artists. The reason I called it Collorgy, it was a really big space and I wanted to cover every part of the wall, even the ceiling was covered. It was like an orgy of art. I had musicians, comedians from Comedy Central come. I probably had over 300 people come that day, in the middle of nowhere in 2008. It definitely set the stage for what I did after with my life. It was a high! All of these people coming out to the middle of nowhere, having fun and everyone is rocking out.

But, over the years, I learned one of the main reasons you have these art shows is to sell artwork and not party. That was a tough process. I never quite learned how to change it from a party to a real art show. So, your art show is up for maybe three hours, if you’re not paying attention and trying to sell artwork, with all the hanging out and drinks… before you know it the show’s over. That’s the end. It took a long time for me to realize you’re doing these shows to make your artists money. You have to fine tune your approach to why you’re having shows and how you present them. It took a long time for me to figure that out and then the pandemic hit.

This is a hypothetical question about money and time. If you could spare no expense, what would be your dream art event or happening? It sounds like you want to do more than hang art on the wall.

I used to do live collage events. People would come and we would hunker down and make collage. Which was really cool. But there is an interesting thing with that too. When I had the collective, you would have a portion of the collective that hated them. Hated them! To them, we’re doing these things to introduce people to collage, so they could fall in love with it. But they didn’t want people to see the person behind the curtain, making the work. Some felt turning into a public event made collage seem more artsy and craftsy than a real art form. It was a very interesting thing.

But yeah, I used to do a lot of interactive events and teach collage. I recently teamed up with Skillshare. They reached out to me and I did a collage class. People really loved it! It was really rewarding. One of the main things about collage is that it’s very therapeutic. It’s very important in everyone’s life. It’s a great escape and I’m glad I can inspire people to create beautiful things while serving a therapeutic reason.

Have you done any animated collage?

I have done very small, easy, funny shorts. It takes a lot of dedication. Over the last few years a lot of people have been making collage videos for music. There have been a lot. The one that really shines, to me, is local. Her name is Kendra Morris who is a phenomenal musician. She has some voice. She has done a lot of collage videos. She did one for MF Doom called “Bomb Thrown” and she’s done a few for her own music, and then another artist called Skinshape. Great musician.

I don’t want to take up your whole afternoon, but I’m curious what is coming up? I know you have been working on an album for a long time. What is the style of that? I know you’re already envisioning the artwork and you’re making cassettes for it.

Well, the artwork and everything is basically done. It’s having to set everything up to transfer from digital to audio tape. Some of the album is on Soundcloud but it’s going to be physically exclusive. I have a bunch of vintage cassette tapes and they all feature this woman’s face. So what I did was collect 50 of these tapes and I cut out the woman’s face. Each tape cassette has a different face with the woman’s hair. The actual audio tapes themselves, I created a template and my own skins for each. They’re really fun.

Who is this woman?

Let me grab one! I’ll be right back. Since I’ve been a collage artist I’ve always tried to break boundaries on what you can and cannot collage on. So this is the original.

[Morgan holds up a vintage Scotch C-60 blank cassette tape featuring a long-haired blonde woman with an expression of deep concentration on the cover. Then he shows some of his collaged variations.]

I have tons of these. So each tape inside, I made a template and glued it [onto the cassette]. I have fifty. I just need to transfer the music on there. But I have a big idea! I wanted to make a poster with all these. Because, when I do an event–when I used to do events–I would go as big as possible. I just wanted to blow people away so they went to an event they would never forget.

Here is a series of 50 cassette collages which will eventually contain my first finished album. Even the audio cassettes are collaged.