KOLLABS Animal Paintings

Artists Luis Garcia-Nerey and Anke Schofield examine the boundaries between undomesticated animals and domesticated environments in their wondrous collaboration called KOLLABS. Each of their narrative paintings — which are typically mixed media works that feature wildlife photography, scraps of magazine print advertisements and more — explores the balance between humans and forest creatures, inviting viewers to reflect on their own relationships with nature.

KOLLABS was formed in 2007 by Miami, Florida-based Garcia-Nerey and Schofield, who lives and works in Atlanta, Georgia.

Born in 1973 in Santurce, Puerto Rico, Garcia-Nerey studied at Long Island University in New York and Miami’s New World School of the Arts. Schofield was born in 1972 in Ithaca, New York, and studied at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia where she obtained her BFA and MFA degrees.

In order to create their provocative works, the KOLLABS founders travel between studios in Miami and Atlanta. Together, they combine their individual artistic talents to produce their series of anthropomorphized animal paintings. For instance, in the mixed-media work Betty and Bea, a bear is portrayed sitting on a luxurious chair, interacting with a hummingbird, while Valery depicts a hawk balancing precariously on champagne labels. 

Throughout the 2000s, KOLLABS has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States. The duo has also shown its works at several art fairs and museum shows including the Affordable Art Fair in Tribeca, New York, San Francisco Art Fair, Art Wynwood in Miami, Texas Contemporary Art Fair in Houston, the Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga, Tennessee and the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

On 1stDibs, discover a selection of KOLLABS mixed-media art and paintings.