W: Can you tell us about yourself and your work in general?

 

Eli Craven: I was born in Idaho Falls, Idaho, and I am currently living and working in Champaign, Illinois. In my work I use photography, sculpture, and collage, but it all starts with the investigation of the image. The acts of looking and collecting have become a large part of the inspiration behind the work I do. In the work I transform imagery to create new meaning through the disfiguration of the original and the combination of additional materials. I like to think of the photograph as an object that I can manipulate. In the end, the process often reveals themes of desire, possession, and the erotic. 

 

W: What did initially inspire you to do the series ‘Spread’? 

Eli Craven: It started when I was considering the original context of the printed image while looking through magazines for images to collage. I was thinking about my tendency to remove the image from its source immediately. I often cut them out as I go. I started thinking of creating a collage while keeping the image intact with its source, using the entire