CLAUDIA ANDREI

Paintings - Drawings - Sculpture - Lithographs - Mixed Media - Poetry - Photos - Textiles - Constructions - Community Projects

 

ARTIST'S STATEMENT

Claudia's ideas and inspirations are drawn from theatre, film and the music business in general and from the Supernatural and Surrealism in particular.
Her art ranges from the esoteric and the dramatic to the camp and sometimes ironic.
Her collage/multi media works are difficult to categorise, which makes it all the
more intriguing.
Her surrealist background can be seen in her work for English publishing house Dedalus, specialists in European classics and fantastic literature, for whom Andrei has designed (amongst other covers) The Dedalus Book Of Medieval Literature as well as The Great Bagarozy and Simplicissimus. She has also designed the cover for Rhode Island Red, a crime thriller by Serpent's Tail and illustrated the innard for a Mentor Press publication.Claudia's work in the music biz has been equally impressive: hand-coloured magazine covers of U2 and Johnny Cash (Hot Press), a collage cover of Tricky (The Wire), tinted photos of British mega indie bands Oasis and Supergrass (VOX Magazine). Furthermore, she illustrated an article of rock legend Patti Smith for MOJO.Her strong fascination for the Supernatural has resulted in commissions for Hammer Films Ltd, for which she created her own licensed postcard series. She particularly enjoys long-standing contributions for SHIVERS-Magazine, for which most notably she has designed an X-Files poster and illustrated feature articles on German Expressionist Cinema and Famous Gothic Writers. Claudia also illustrated the front cover for the spring issue of The Wicker Man Magazine.A special interest for all things theatrical has prompted poster designs for plays by Ibsen, Shakespeare, Chekhov, Wilde as wel as posters for Faust, Bram Stoker's DRACULA and various experimental plays.Apart from her commercial work and commissions, the artist exhibits in venues and galleries throughout London and the UK on a regular basis. her pieces range from hand-pasted collages and digitally enhanced Mixed Media pictures up to limited edition prints (etchings and aquatints). her pieces have been sold to collectors as far as Japan and Canada.Claudia studied trad. printmaking under Frank Connelly at The City Lit and enrolled on various courses for digital image manipulation and graphic design at The London College of Printing, but her best teacher was her artist father.

 

Neo-Puck
Self-portrait

Titania

I have always been fascinated by fairies and wood spirits, it is something I grew up with. My parents and especially my grandmother
(who are of German/Slovac descent) told me many stories of creatures in the woods like elfs, goblins, fairies and witches. To me they were not part of superstition and folklore but real. Obviously some of my opinions have changed (and matured) since childhood, but Istill believe that animals, trees etc all possess a spirit and that the woods are frequently haunted by otherworldly creatures - and no, I don't mean the Blair Witch! several years ago I started to get interested in how spirits, fairies and so forth are portrayed in literatureand in films. As an illustrator this is a source of neverending possibilities. And which source of literature could captivate the veryessence of a fairy lore better than Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. This was the idea behind my Mixed Media pieceTitania. I portrayed her with three breasts because to me she reflects elements of the triple goddess, but I also added the serpent and the forbidden fruit because of her alluring qualities.

 

 

 

Cat Demon

This piece was inspired by my huge interest in Canadian Native American culture, especially the West Coast tribes stretching from British Columbia to Alaska. Their many myths of how the world was created is wonderfully "re-told" in the totem-pole carvings and further visuallytranslated by contemporary artists such as Robert Davidson (a native Haida). His fantastically composed prints dominated by a bold andlinear style awoke my interest not only in various printmaking techniques, but also in how animal spirits are portrayed in artwork. Sinceobviously my surroundings here in England are inhabited by different animals (no whales or bears) I started off with not only my favouritekind of animal in general but by my favourite creature on this planet: my cat! What I like about it most is the dual personality of felines,and I tried to capture both characteristics in my piece. Also, cats to me possesssupernatural qualities and I feel I can comminuicatewith them, hence the title Cat Demon (in this case, a friendly demon).

 

 

 

 

Lagnasad

In traditional pagan belief Lagnasad (or Lamma) marks the time when the first fruits and crops of the harvet were offered to the earth goddess. This ancient celebration takes place on August 1st. Back home in my native Germany large dolls made of corn are displayed at peoples dorrsteps(mainly in rural parts) and bread loafs are baked in the shape of a man and a woman to emphasise the fertility aspect. Lagnasad was celebratedlike this during my childhood and I believe it has not changed much over all those years. Apart from Walpurgis (May day), the celebrations for Lagnasad are one of the very few ancient pagan customs which havesurvived and are equally celebrated by pagans and non-pagans in manyparts of Germany as well as all over the world. In my Mixed Media piece Lagnasad the earth goddess wears a tiara made of sunflowers and looksdown at the gifts brought in her honour. In the bottom centre I placed an open blossom, this is symbolic and stands for fertility.

 

 

 

 

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