The Others
Meet The Others: Elaine Mullings
The Game Changers. The Rule Breakers. The Innovators. Discover some of the fantastic emerging talent showcasing their work at The Other Art Fair.
Printmaker and Sculptor Elaine Mullings describes her artistic practice as a way of life, as she says “there’s no other way to be than to be an artist”. Although sculpture and printmaking are two very different processes, Elaine works with ease between the two, admitting that she doesn’t have a favourite media. The understated designs in Elaine’s prints combined with bold colours makes for the perfect relationship to create a desirable piece of fine art.
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How would you describe your artwork?
With printmaking, my mono prints are intensely coloured abstract images created through screen-printing. I am completely infatuated with the process, with ink, with the image, with depth, with spontaneity. And so it goes on. I started out with etching – intaglio. But after an arts residency in China, I became fascinated with colour and with iridescence and found myself drawn to screen-printing. But rather than producing a hundred copies of the same image, I’m concerned with what happens in the moment when the ink and my gesture on the screens comes together on the paper and how it changes. It’s an energetic process that sets up a lot of challenges during the printing. The resulting abstraction of colour and movement in the print is what interests me. I’ve developed this particular technique that means I can only produce a small series of prints at a time before the image collapses.
Currently, I’m working on uniting the two strands of my practice with more installation work. I’m very happy working between two and three-dimensional processes. I can’t say which media I prefer. I’m making sculpture again, so I’m interested to see how printing and my 3-D work will coexist.
What does making art mean to you?
Making art is a way of continually asking questions and challenging myself. It is a combination of introspection and visual expression of creativity and ideas and that make me think. I am constantly preoccupied with it. Art colours everything I do. I’m incessantly digesting and distilling information to feed the beast.
How did you get started making art?
I used work in broadcaster television as a producer/ director. I was always drawn to making programmes about art and working with artists. When the chance came up to take redundancy, I jumped at it. Going to Art College was intuitive. It seemed the natural thing to do. I still see the creative process as a production and my practice as ever evolving and multi-disciplinary.
What is it like to be a part of The Other Art Fair?
Being part of The Other Art Fair is exciting and intense. I love taking part from the momentum of the build up to the buzz of the Fair itself. It’s well organized by The Other Art Fair team and the programmes are inventive and fun. It’s a good time. You meet the public and get people’s responses to your work. The bonus is the other artists and seeing their work. I’ve made some good friends through showing at The Other Art Fair and I’ve started to build a new audience for my work.
What is your favourite piece for sale on your SA profile and why?
My favourite work for sale on my SA profile is ‘Blue Peter”. It’s a large indigo blue mono-print from the Ghost Boat series. I particularly like the intense colour, tones and contrast. But I also like the way the image forces you to look at it closely. I’m always finding something new in it.
