Cory Bilicko

Whether it’s intentional or not, my artwork always examines the relationship between the past and the present. Even subject matter that’s rooted in modern-day issues is informed by a robust sense of nostalgia, and, although I’m not a photographer, old photos are my primary sources of inspiration. They become reinvented as oil, acrylic or watercolor paintings, or they get directly placed into collages or mixed-media pieces. Hence, my artwork captures ghosts: the phantoms– both literal or figurative– that occupy our present and the remnants and reminders of the past that still linger as fear, guilt, regret, loss, disconnection. However, despite the presence of these negative feelings, my work always seeks to find the beauty within the darkness, the life after death.