BM - For those that might not know, please explain who you are and what you do.
CW - I am Ceal Warnants. I'm best known for making darkly comic prints based on children's book illustrations. I am a printmaker but also experiment with sculpture, painting and drawing from time-to-time.
BM - Have you always been so creative?
CW – My parents are very practical people and are always crafting something. I believe my love of making comes from them.
Babes print available at Jealous
BM – Often you combine children’s book style illustration with more adult themes, what is it about this dichotomy that interests you?
CW - The prints are a response to childhood, as it seems to exist today. I find it easy to compare my childhood to a Blyton-esque story: romanticised and idyllic, glossing over the angst and growing pains. Today's children are typically not allowed such innocence. By transforming old into new and weaving sweet with unsavoury, the satiric manipulations are sugar-coated in a classic style to make a slightly exaggerated reality easy to swallow.
BM – Your paper objects are interesting they are inviting to the touch and are yet incredibly fragile. How do you intend for these pieces to be interacted with, and what is the process for making them?
CW – I took very functional object and rendered them useless by reproducing them in paper. Although they are a close imitation of the original objects it becomes obvious there is something ‘wrong’ and they just beg to be touched. In fact, several sculptures were destroyed because of this impulse to test the objects. The process involved me deconstructing the objects in my head to make large nets of shapes, which I then drew on the computer. They were then digitally printed and painstakingly glued together.
Branded by Ceal Warnants is part of the Postcard Lottery
BM - What made you want to get involved with Art On A Postcard?
CW – It’s a great cause and one I knew very little about until Gemma Peppé approached me after seeing my work at Jealous Gallery. I found her story very inspiring and wanted to help.
BM - What other exciting things are you working on at the moment?
CW – Currently I am working on a two-person show with Kristian Jones at Jealous Gallery later this year.
BM – Where can we find out more about your work?
CW –
Website: www.cealwarnants.co.uk
Instagram: @ceal_warnants
Facebook: Ceal Warnants Artist
About the writer
 |
Benjamin Murphy is an artist who primarily creates delicate figurative works using black electrical tape. As well as this, he regularly writes about contemporary art. He lives and works in London. |