Sunday, March 20, 2011

Interview - El Gato Chimney & Emma Malic of PRESSURESCAPES

See Pressurescapes Etsy Site and Blog

Biography
We are a couple of Italian artists, currently living in Milan. El Gato Chimney has been a part of the international art scene for more than a decade, while Emma Malic is a printmaking student at the Academy Of Fine Arts Of Brera. We share not only a love for each other, but also for art at popular prices, collecting contemporary art, and non-toxic printmaking methods. PRESSURESCAPES was born out of our desire to create affordable artwork while working together on a common project.

Why Printing?

Printmaking is an anachronistic activity, intensely tactile, somewhat alchemical. We feel that these aspects make it the right medium to portray our themes: the dark side of things, esoteric imagery, fairytales gone wrong, folkloristic legends and murder ballads.

What Is Your Favorite Print Medium And Why?

We both love aquatint and etching, even though the use of acid means we can only do it at a printmaking laboratory, or, in Emma's case, at school - we look forward to owning a studio of our own!

We are also branching out in other mediums: El Gato Chimney, already familiar with painting on wood, is interested in xylography, and Emma is working on a series of monotypes on fabric.

How Long Have You Been Printing And How Has Your Work Evolved?

Long before we met each other, we both fell in love with the the prints of Flemish artists and, therefore, decided to explore printmaking. El Gato Chimney has been a painter his entire life and only had the chance to have access to an etching press in 2009. Emma made her first print at a workshop in Berlin in 2004 and as soon as she had the chance she enrolled in a printmaking course. With time we acquired more confidence in our abilities and now, instead of using solely black ink and single plates, we create complex multicolored prints with different techniques and multiple plates.


What Or Who Influences Your Work?

As lovers of symbolism, we feel that the worlds created by Arnold Böcklin, Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis and Odilon Redon heavily influence our work.

El Gato Chimney also cites alchemy, primitivism and surrealism among his inspirations. Emma, always interested in a feminine take on art, counts Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo as her main inspirators, along with Angela Carter's dark tales.

How Do Your Promote Your Work?

PRESSURESCAPES is still a young project and for the moment we only have a blog
that we try to always keep updated. Recently we also had the chance to participate ino a successful group show, and we hope to show our prints to the public again in the near future, as we believe that this is the best way to promote our art.

Any Good Printing Tips Or Funny Printing Stories?

Never be afraid to experiment, some of the best prints find their way to the world through imperfections and mistakes.

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