This week, the Orense-based illustrator and visual artist Celsius Pictor gives us an interesting interview.. He studied Illustration at the School of Arts and Crafts, For seven years he worked as Art Director in advertising agencies and studios in Spain., Swiss, France and the United Kingdom, and since 2011 works as a freelance illustrator. Inspired by the work of ancient engravers and Max Ernest, Celsius one el collage to give life to a parallel world that revolves around forgotten techniques that mix primitive mechanics before the digital world, medieval stories, mythology, the forgotten worlds and nature. His illustrations and collages They have been exhibited in Madrid and Paris and he is a member of the Collage Society of Madrid. GINÉS J. VERA
The work of an illustrator in the literary field, For example, It seems to go a little unnoticed.. The author is well known (the author), to the publisher and the figure of the literary agent begins to emerge (which usually appears on the credits page of the books)…But reference illustrators are scarce despite the great power of a good cover. Tell us about it.
Bueno, In recent years there has been a lot of improvement in this aspect, especially because publishers are beginning to assume that, if a book is illustrated, The writer is as author as the illustrator and, it is mandatory, by law that the author is credited. I believe that ignorance comes from two aspects.: on the one hand, Editorials often use photos of stock for the covers, because it reduces costs, although they leave a title devoid of personality and because that same lack of visual culture sometimes means that the public does not worry about who the cover illustrator is or about following their career as they do with the writer.. In any case, I think this is changing with the new generations.
A bit along the lines of what was said in the previous question, I imagine that when every artist begins (and even make a space) emulates or aspires to be like someone. I would like to know if you are inspired or have any national or foreign reference/follower..
Well you are absolutely right, when an artist starts he aspires to look like someone, and if you don't at least you should. But not only when you start, Throughout the life of an artist you meet other authors who you would like to be like and that is what pushes you to evolve. In my case, Since I do a lot of research and document a lot for each project, the list is immense.. There are collage authors that I love, like Max Ernst, but above all, old illustrators like Grandville, who inspired Doré., o Arthur Rackham. As more current references I have Aaron Horkey, Wolf Erlbruch, Sean Andrew Murray… and I recently discovered a mid-20th century German illustrator named Hermann Vogel, who never published anything in Spain and it amazes me.
In addition to being an illustrator, I understand that we can also say that he is from collage. In that sense, This November I think he has collaborated on a project in Madrid with seven collages made featuring a series of women with a vintage and retro look, inspired by the atmosphere of a restaurant. Tell us in broad strokes this pairing between illustration, collage and gastronomy because I think he has already traveled along those lines with previous works.
For me he collage It is one more tool when it comes to illustrating, It is more of a means than an end in itself., so sometimes i just make collage, sometimes I draw and sometimes it is difficult to determine where the collage ends and the drawing begins. I don't make a clear distinction because for me they are only techniques for telling and what is really important is what I want to tell., what is my personal universe. And this universe is the Monsterkompendium, a personal project that was born six years ago and has expanded to everything I do, from the deck of cards you mentioned before, to wine labels and in this case, to the exhibition Vegan Girls which opened in the Il Tavolo Verde restaurant in Madrid. The restaurant commissioned me to design its logo and identity, based on its double concept of organic restaurant and antique store, and I created for them an image that inspired the exhibition, con 7 women with a retro air but who have evolved to a stage of freedom and nature that is not the one that could emerge from their time and society.
In general, that idea of natural evolution in a mechanical context, of nature seeking a benefit with more artisanal improvements typical of the First Industrial Revolution, which interests me a lot. There is in my work, maybe, a certain air steampunk although I prefer to distance myself from the brutalism that sometimes permeates that aesthetic and look for a more natural and delicate air., less aggressive with the natural environment itself.
From his most personal project, el Monsterkompendium, Yes, I would like you to tell us something else.. I am referring to that jump illustrating a white porcelain tableware from Lisbon where the protagonists, I understand, They are characters that are half animals, half machines..
The illustrated tableware project arose in this context of expansion of the Monsterkompendium universe. Although there are already designs made expressly, The first pieces are in fact characters from the unpublished book itself about that lost natural world., and my intention was to bring to the table the concept of chance and sense of humor that Nature itself has.. I would love to see all the tables and houses full of life populated by those animals that have evolved by improving their own abilities or problems and that would be a starting line for the imagination of each person who can eat on plates or drink coffee from a cup.. May you find these animals at your table playing with the plating of delicious food, at the bottom of a soup tureen or in any corner of your house and make you smile. They can even be the start of a conversation at a dinner. They are curious characters, fun, rogues or elegant and each of course has its own story within an even greater story.
