Xander Coy, a.k.a. Zandism, is a painter and collagist. Heavily influenced by the imagery of pop art, collage, and surrealism, he draws on a variety of visuals for his own work, ranging from vintage 1950’s posters to modern-day cartoons.

Drawn to collage because of the boundless creative possibilities it has to offer, Coy juxtaposes seemingly disparate images and forms to create a narrative. Narratives of escapism, yearning, vulnerability, and transience are often the result.

Coy is fascinated with semiotics—how meaning is created and how meaning is communicated is often at the forefront of his thoughts when creating work. Signs and symbols regularly appear, often slightly altered or recontextualised to give a different meaning. In the same way a kid might draw a smiley face over a picture of a circled sun or a moustache over a face, Coy displays the same playful approach of reinventing familiar images in his work.

Working on canvas and paper as well as on the streets, each image he creates is brimming with contrasting colour, pattern, scale, light, and shade. Regularly using a hot or cold palette (or occasionally both), surprising harmonies are generated through vibrant chromatic extremes. Colour is king—a realm of constant pleasure.