“We are drawn to our source material out of a mutual fascination, appreciation, and morbid curiosity. For both of us, the collages provide a space to simultaneously celebrate and satirize mainstream notions of taste and sophistication. We get to poke fun at the aesthetics of the past but also to pay tribute (albeit in a subversive, gaudy, and often humorous way).”
Phomohobes
Phomohobes are a duo comprised of Colby Richardson (Toronto) and Jason Cawood (Regina.) Formed in 2012, they primarily create hand-made collages from pre-1990’s pop-culture and lifestyle magazines. These collages take shape as garish, ornate and perverse juxtapositions of mid-20th century interiors, fashion, consumer products, decontextualized body parts, and hypermasculinity.
The articles and projects in this issue stem from commissioned responses to the theme of “taste,” framed in part by sociologist Pierre Bourdieu’s text Distinction, which examines the relationship between taste and class.
Like cryptophasiac twins who speak a tongue that only they can understand, Jason Cawood and Colby Richardson, as the collective Phomohobes, have created a specific but ambiguous lexicon of images, arranged in adherence to the grammar of their shared visual language.