Growing up in Culver City in the 70s, art was a huge part of my childhood.

From painting to ceramics, my favorite thing to do as a kid was being fully immersed in an art project. Without smartphones to keep us occupied, the way kids of my generation had fun and interacted with the world around us was much different. Art became my main way of expressing myself. I then went on to study at the University of California, Berkeley in the early 80s. It only took me a little while before I decided on Art History, going back to my first love from my childhood.

Artist Statement

Kristi Klein is an analog collage artist based in Southern California. All of her pieces are created using images from vintage magazines and ephemera that she has sourced locally. She works entirely by hand, cutting and arranging all materials to preserve the look, physicality, and imperfections of vintage paper. Inspired by her childhood in Los Angeles in the 1960s and 70s, her work explores themes of nostalgia and pop culture, both honoring and reimagining the past through a contemporary lens.

Creation Process

Gathering

I work exclusively with vintage ephemera: paper, photographs, illustrations, and other fragments that were once used, saved, or forgotten. Because these materials are no longer produced, each piece carries marks of time that can no longer be replicated: aged textures, vibrant colors, and distinctive typography.

Cutting

Every element of my work is found, selected, and cut by hand. There is no automation or digital manipulation. I sit with the materials, study their textures and stories, and allow them to guide the composition. Cutting by hand introduces subtle irregularities and organic shapes that add individuality to the final work.

Composing

No two collages can ever be the same. The materials cannot be reordered or recopied, and the hand-cut process ensures that every combination is unique. Because each piece has a past, my process is part restoration and part reinterpretation. I bring together pieces that were never meant to coexist and weave them into new narratives.
  • Sustainable collage art for homes and creative spaces
  • Hand-cut collage art made from vintage magazines
  • Hand-cut collage art made from vintage magazines
Sustainable collage art for homes and creative spaces
Hand-cut collage art made from vintage magazines
Hand-cut collage art made from vintage magazines
Press

"Art and creating have always been a huge part of my life since I was a kid. Even during periods of my life where I wasn’t actively seeking to be an artist or to make money from my work, I was still finding ways to create in my everyday life. This was something ingrained in me from my early childhood.”

“There’s never just one way to put a piece together, which can feel frustrating but also exciting. I usually try many different combinations before settling on what intuitively feels right. Working as an analog collage artist comes with a sense of uncertainty — since I only use hand-cut vintage materials, I can’t always find exactly what I imagine. Often, searching for one image leads me to another, unexpectedly shifting the entire composition. There’s a real beauty in allowing that uncertainty to guide the process as the work takes shape.”

My pieces are inspired by my childhood in Southern California, specifically Los Angeles in the 1960s and 70s.

Everything from that era was so much more vibrant: from the color palettes of old furnishing to the products in old ads. I went back to creating art later in adulthood not only to add some color and fun back into my own life but to add color and fun back into our world that has become so stark due to modern trends. I love any opportunity I get to be transported back to the pre-digital age.

Hand-cut vintage collage art inspired by Los Angeles by Kristi Klein

Sustainability Approach

My main goal is turning something old into something new and inspiring my generation with nostalgia as well as younger generations with images from long ago. It is such a joy to be able to create something beautiful from a mundane ad or a discarded scrap of paper. We are living in a time of such wasteful consumption and our planet is suffering for it. I take pride in my ability to repurpose what may have been forgotten.

Explore the Collection

Each element is cut by hand and carefully arranged to form a composition that preserves the authenticity of the materials. Nothing is digitally altered. Instead, every detail is shaped with intention and guided by my own artistic vision and intuition.

Shop Kristi’s Work
Hand-cut collage art made from vintage magazines

FAQs

Los Angeles inspired analog collage artwork
Will the print colors look the same as the original collage?

Because all of my pieces are made using vintage paper, the original pieces often contain variances in color due to the natural fading and aging of the materials. All prints are adjusted to enhance the vibrancy and clarity of the colors while still maintaining the authenticity of the original collage.

Is it possible to order a custom collage?
Do you offer framing options?
Do the materials fade over time? How should I care for my collage or print?
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