Petroleum Collage

Alex Helmintoller is a Los Angeles—based collage artist whose emerging body of work critiques Post-War American Mythology through examinations of mass production, capitalist intervention in nature, the effects of war, and false salvation through technology. Their ongoing series, Invented Futures, explores the early 20th century displacement of Jewish families as a result of pogroms in Eastern Europe, using a photo archive and chronicle of the Lithuanian shtetl, Eishyshok, from which the artist traces their lineage. Elements of bureaucracy and statehood are represented in various forms; junk mail, advertisements, and architecture blur with the personal, and are juxtaposed with suggestions of violence and complicity. Through this project, they examine themes of nationalism, memorial, and connection across generations. Helmintoller’s work has been published in Contemporary Collage Magazine, and in 2022 they received an honorable mention in the magazine’s CC Awards. In 2021, they were awarded a residency with Kasini Institute and participated in Kasini’s Political Art in Collage workshop series. They have exhibited in the Vayo Collage Gallery in Rochester, New York, and were featured in Kolajfest in New Orleans, sponsored by Kolaj Institute.