sabato 23 ottobre 2010

Interview with Martha Verschaffel





q)Who are you? Where are you from and where do you live now?


a)I’m an illustrator from Ghent (Belgium), graduated one year ago. Now I’m trying to make my own zines, drawings and comics.


q)What is it that you do? What media do you use?


a)During my studies I experimented with a lot of materials and techniques. But now I’m drawing with nothing but pink plastic bic matic pencils.


q)What do you think sets your work apart?


a)My most important source of inspiration are my nightmares and dreams. These stories are very personal and awkward, and I guess that’s why the drawings can also be described as somehow oppressive and intimidating.


q)How long have you been showing your work for? Did you have a “big break?”


a)After graduating, I’ve been publishing my work on a blog and flickr-page. I was able to distribute my first zine (‘Alma Mater’) around the world through those different internet-sources and independent publications.


q)What are some things that have inspired you?


a)My work is mainly about obsessions, so that’s an essential aspect I search for in my inspiration sources. As I said, in the first place, I can find them in my own nightmares. But also in old movies (Bergman, Murnau, Svankmajer, …), literature (T. S. Eliot, Kafka, Sartre, ...) or outsider art (Wölfli, Darger, Lobanov, …). I’m also fascinated by science, anatomy and taxidermy collections, and old daguerroype and tintype photographs.


q)What have you been working on recently?


a)At the time, I’m working on several new projects. A collaboration with my cousin about motorcycles and cows, a new zine about the nightmares and some silkscreen tests.


q)Do you listen to music while you create your work? If so, would you give some examples?


a)For me, music is indispensable while drawing. Joanna Newsom and Bob Dylan might be the most important. But lately I have been listeling a lot to Wire, Wipers and Digable Planets. Sometimes I like to put one song or one cd on repeat for an entire day.


q)Do you do work in any other media? Other projects not necessarily related to your main body of work?


a)I’m following silkscreen and photography classes, and now I’m experimenting with scraperboard. But pencil will always be my first and true love.


q)What advice do you have for artists looking to show their work?


a)I’m still searching for good advice myself, so I don’t think I’m the right person to give other people advice. But I would recommend to show some work on a flickr page, it helped me with getting in touch with other illustrators from around the world.


q)Do you have any upcoming exhibitions of your work that you can mention?


a)I’m not really into the art-gallery world, but when I will finish my next zine or when I have a small expo, you can read it on my blog.


q)Where can people see more of your work on the internet?


a)My blog (www.marthaverschaffel.blogspot.com) or my flickr page (www.flickr.com/marthaverschaffel)

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