Maria Rivans
Maria Rivans -Back To Nature
3 MAY 2013 — 2 JUNE 2013
20/05/2013
We're now half way through the Back To Nature show....Maria has found time to put down her tools to give us more of an insight into her original wonderful work. Prepare your eyes...
Maria your collage transports the viewer into many surreal worlds. Tell us your inspirations behind your work?
Mark Ryden, The Brit Art Movement, Hitchcock, Planet of the Apes, Forbidden Planet, Land of the Giants, Marine Boy, Bette Davis, David Hockney, David Bowie, David Sylvian, Max Ernst, Salvador Dali, humour, joy, beauty, love for life, a connectedness to consciousness, Hyronimus Bosch, Jeff Koons, The Singing Ringing Tree, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, Tarzan.
One of my all time favourites is I Blame Woolworths…do you have a favourite?
I have actually kept I Blame Woolworths for myself.... it's one of my personal favourites too. It was to mark an exciting time in my life when I left school to go to art college and finally wave goodbye to the soul destroying and awful Saturday job I had at Woolworths. Bizarrely I think Woolworths closed pretty soon after I made it.
I also particularly like the 2D collage originals of Natural Highs II and Birdy which have been converted into screenprints.
You transformed the ink_d gallery into a jungle, please tell us more?
I wanted to solely concentrate on my 3D work which was originally inspired by a pair of Vista Vision glasses my dad gave to me when I was a kid. These glasses transformed photographs you could collect of holiday destinations into a magical 3D experience. These very glasses are on display in the show.
Using my particular 3D technique of making, I wanted to explore the idea of our continued growing estrangement from the natural world and try to reconnect us with nature by transforming the gallery into a fantastical jungle environment.
Tell us a little more about the process for creating your magical & magnificent 3D collage work?
It begins with the scavenging for materials to use, I can't walk past a second hand shop, charity shop or boot market without having to go in. I love it, it's so exciting when I come across just the right thing to use in a piece. All my materials are filed, for instance I have a file box which just has images of animals kept in it and then those animals are filed into groups of animals like insects, birds, etc. I have to be organised because searching through all the thousands and thousands of images I have collected over the years is the most time consuming part of the process. Finding the perfect image to fit a space within a composition has to be the right size to fit the perspective, face the correct way, tell the right story and be of a certain style and colour.
I work on a few pieces at the same time, swapping projects as I go. It helps practically and economically especially when searching through the images as I will often come across ideas and images for other pieces that I am not completely involved in at that time. And I never glue until I am totally convinced and happy with the final composition. I'll often leave the work for a while, put it away for a few days and get it out again to view it with fresh eyes.
LAST TWO PLACES - Collage Workshops with Maria Rivans on Sunday 26th May at the gallery.
20/05/2013
WORKSHOP 1 - 10am to 12pm. BASIC CLASS. Create a 2D collage. £20 per person (including refreshments and materials). 6-8 places. Please bring some magazine/images to use.
WORKSHOP 2 - 1pm to 4pm, MASTERCLASS. Create a 3D Collage on a vintage postcard. £45 per person (including refreshments, materials and a vintage postcard). 4-5 places. Please bring some magazine/images to use.
Price for both workshops £55 (saving £10).
Contact us for more info or to book your place.
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