Jake Collings is a Chicago based mixed media and floral collage artist. He has worked in flower shops since the age of fifteen and as a floral designer since 2014. His art is inspired by tribal/indigenous art and designs as well as tattoo motifs and imagery. While these works are a stark contrast to the organic unpredictability of flowers, they are all intuitive expressions, whether created by humans or by the earth.
The concept behind his pressed flower pieces and collages was born from the desire to create a more permanent expression of the art of floral design. They are a physical manifestation of his passion for flowers and the natural world, one that circumvents the imminent expiration that comes with cut flowers. There is great beauty in the fleeting nature of flowers; to bloom is to wilt. Yet they exist here, preserved at their best, between the realm of life and death.