From his Dutch studio, the artist Toon Joosen creates collages in which he stages everyday situations, found among photos and old magazines, readapting them to create works with a surreal narrative. The subjects, such as children, women intent on cleaning the house or peasants, play in a construction that relies heavily on irony, with words and phrases found in old books, which from time to time are transformed into something else, almost coming to life thanks to cut-outs and the arrangement that breaks the horizontal striped pattern.

The protagonists of Toon Joosen’s works are perfectly embedded in a recognisable but unplanned narrative, in which another important element are the paper effects typical of the collage technique. Tears, clean cuts with scissors or box cutters build up the landscapes, with the yellowed and time-faded paper fixing an imagery that covers even the wittiest and most provocative compositions with nostalgia.