Wardell Milan

Wardell Milan’s collages often incorporate cut-out photographs, including iconic works ​from photographers such as Diane Arbus and Robert Mapplethorpe. The collages rebuild the human figure from fragmented​ sources, creating powerful new portraits.

Since 2019, Wardell Milan has collaborated with BORCH Editions in Copenhagen to create editioned works. His large-scale, multi-layered compositions combine a variety of etching techniques with linocuts and woodcuts–a manner of building pictorial space also central to his collage works. These pieces depict figures immersed in arcadian landscapes, exploring themes of physical touch and sexual and spiritual intimacy. In contrast, Milan’s smaller etchings reflect the political and social reality of the United States with explicit and, at times, brutal honesty.