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BlackRose Graphix A new issue; thus a new feature in the art section. This time I chose to invite Simona of BlackRose Graphix/Twilight Realm to answer a few questions about her beautiful art. Simona is at the moment promoting her name as a graphics designer in the various obscure genres covered in this zine, and she has already managed to put her name on some CD's, for example Penitent's Reflections of Past Memories. For the future, Simona is looking for more work so anyone who's looking for an artist should know that she's available for hire. Read on to find out more. SIMONA: I'm a lover of the "obscure" music in general, this music reflects my way of living, my passion for an idealistic past, my need to refuge in another world, the suffering of living in a world like ours… and my aim is to serve this art with my art… These are the artworks I've created until now: - PHANTOM MOON COMPILATION VOL. 1- Obscure Music for Real Souls - Cover - 2002 At the moment I'm going to start a project with a really talented poet, Medea (Luisa Papa). I'm gonna represent through images some of her poems, as I usually do in my survey Poets' Tears (underground obscure poets are invited to keep in touch for being featured in this survey!). There's already an image online for the poem Sposa Tradita ("betrayed bride")… I'm working on drafts, then we will see when and where we will exhibit our work… SIMONA: Exactly… as stated above it all started as "experimenting" and reached a point where I realized it was my way of expression, my way to express my FEELINGS, inspired by various events and by my passion for the "obscure" under any form. It has become my refuge and my oneiric reign, far from the grey of our present World, so hectic and vulgar. A world totally lacking poetry… ECTONAUT: How have people reacted upon what you are doing in BlackRose Graphix to date? Have you received many compliments on your works? Any criticism? SIMONA: Until now, I have received mostly positive comments. When people say: "I like your style" and "your images are really emotional!", I feel really satisfied. STYLE, EMOTIONS, when people say that... ah, it is great for me because it means I've reached my goal: to truly express myself! ECTONAUT: From where do you think you gain the inspiration which leads you to create the art that you do? Do you think it's a conscious or subconscious process? SIMONA: Uhm, quite difficult questions. In many many different ways. Sometimes from the lyrics of a song, from an "image" that suddenly appears to my mind, from a bad or really nice happening, from a place I'm visiting (taking pictures there and elaborating it with the computer. Or, as happened with "Autumn": walking in the woods during Autumn, stealing some dead leaves, putting them directly into the scanner and then again expressing my feelings through computer elaboration…). It depends, it depends… and I can say that nowadays I'm more inspired than ever! ECTONAUT: Is there an artist or two whom you think has influenced you more or less in the past? Where do you have your artistic background really? Have you always been interested in art? SIMONA: Every kind of romantic, surreal and gloomy art inspires me. Since the goal of my images are to raise EMOTION in the people who observe them, I can say my favourite art movements are expressionism, romanticism and symbolism. And just to name a few of my favourite artists: Munch, Fuseli, Von Stuck, Delville, Friederich, Waterhouse, Ensor (the masks!!), Khnopff, Von Stuck, Burne-Jones, Previati, Ernst… ECTONAUT: In the picture Plastic:People it seems as though you were ventilating your disgust and hatred towards the modern western society. What is it about the modern world that inspires you to spawn images like these? Do you think mankind of today behave like pigs and are too money/time centered? SIMONA: Ah, that's for sure! My inspiration to create this image started with the observing of the "business people" I meet every day when I go to work (that are the cliché of the business men everywhere but especially in my country, the most important thing is to "look standard", no matter who you are, what you do and what your values and qualities are. Just "look standard": to find a decent job, to be "into the society" and this is simply DISGUSTING!). They are all looking similar with their fake smiles, big cars, big mobile phones, big noses to sniff cocaine and their big plastic-pussies. More money, more money... faster and faster. ECTONAUT: It seems to me as though you are currently quite busy trying to promote your skills in doing digital artwork to the various people throughout the goth, neo classical, ethereal etc. music business. You are not alone however. What is Black Rose's trademark on the market? What can you offer with your art that others cannot? SIMONA: I can offer P-A-S-S-I-O-N! SIMONA: Yes, Penitent… what a shame that Karsten decided to stop the project due to the lack of professionality of a Label!. ECTONAUT: You told me earlier that you have decided to only work with the music you love after having worked 3 years as a normal graphical designer. Why this change of direction? Did you feel that you were lacking aestethic freedom when you were working for a company? SIMONA: My intent is to work only for my favorite music as soon as possible! Of course I still have my "normal" job ($!) and it is the best I can get here: Since October, I changed it into a 25 hours/week collaboration and this allows me more freedom and time for myself. Yez, it is quite a "free" office even if a bit chaotic. I work as graphic/web designer and web & multimedia project & content manager. I coordinated a group of 20 web-searchers (too bad it ended because it was really interesting!). ECTONAUT: Yet, even though you are working for musicians, it still isn't entirely sure that you will have complete aestethic freedom since you are still working under someone elses guidelines. How do you solve this? Is it simply so that you think working for people with a similar musical taste is easier since there is a bigger chance that you may share some similar ideas and thoughts? SIMONA: Exactly! With this question you simply continue what I was going to say in the previous answer. It is totally different working with "obscure" musicians. We share the same passion. We exchange ideas, they give me the guidelines to best express my idea for their artworks and I listen to their music and to their lyrics before I start to design an artwork. For me, it is simply marvellous. For example: when I started design the cover of Crowhead (ex-Shadow Dancers), I was inspired by their song Frozen. In the draft, I gave the album the title Frozen (as it is something that also resembles their music, "cold-suffering-electro-goth-doom-noteasytobelabelled-music"): Jo-Inge found it a really good name for the album and here it is. By the way: for expressing myself without any sort of guidelines, I always have the section "my images". ECTONAUT: Do you like listening to music while you work? If so, what kind of music do you find suitable to have in the background during your sessions? Any favourites records you like having in the background? SIMONA: I always listen to music, though I've noticed that when I'm at the top of inspiration while designing, I'm so concentrated that any other "thing" disappears: music in the background, noises outside, time etc. ECTONAUT: How do you work when you create an image? Do you prefer to let the idea come to you before you sit down and start to work with the image or do you prefer to play around with the computer and just let the image grow and grow without any real idea on how the final product will look? ECTONAUT: You're producing both regular art and digital art, and in the latter one, you mould various pictures into a new one. I understand you have sometimes used pictures from movies, for example The Last Prophecy. Aren't you afraid of copyright issues when you do this? SIMONA: I used "frames" from this movie (I captured them directly from the videotape) for creating the series Angels. These images were exhibited on a Goth Party called Twilight of the Gods. When the organizers told me about the theme of the party I suddenly thought of The Last Prophecy (part 1): you know, the battles between angels, the rebel angels afraid that god had stopped speaking to them, the rebel angels who were jealous of mankind, wanting to destroy them. ECTONAUT: What's your main goal with BlackRose and where do you see yourself in a decade if everything goes accordingly to your will? Do you think you will ever be able to earn a living just by doing artwork in BlackRose? SIMONA: Ah, I don't know! I don't know where I will be tomorrow and in a decade... who knows? I just want to live day by day supporting my dreams, my values and my passion. Time will tell. ECTONAUT: You're also the editor of another webzine named Twilight Realm. What's going on with this webzine at the moment? SIMONA: Well, after more than a year of inactivity, Twilight Realm is slowly arising again. I changed the layout, also creating a page named "highlights", where there is also space for the events organized by the great and professional Italian Goth magazine Ascension. ECTONAUT: Well, I guess this is yet another interview which has to end. Thanks Simona for answering my questions and I wish you good luck with BlackRose Graphix in the future. The word is yours. SIMONA: Thanx a lot for this interview, for asking interesting questions and for granting me a space in your webzine. All my best wishes to you! BlackRose Graphix Contact |
ECTONAUT: "My gallery is my shelter, my refuge" you told me in a previous mail. Would you like to develop this phrase further? Why is art so important to you? What role does it have in your life and could you imagine a life without it?
ECTONAUT: You did the digital artwork for a CD by the now defunct project of Karsten Hamre, namely Penitent. How did it come to this and do you think you will do any more work for Mr. Hamre in the future?
SIMONA: I would prefer to answer both these questions in one. As I said earlier in this interview, I never plan "what to design" though the "process" has changed a lot since spring 2001: I have bought my own equipment (Mac rules!!!) and due to this I can dedicate more time to the creation of an image. Before this, I was allowed to use the equipment in the office and that means that I usually did a rough draft on my old PC here at home, sent it to the office and elaborated with the final version during the lunch breaks. Not much time and not the right atmosphere to be inspired!