A Parallel Planets piece by Pepe Serapio
Parallel Planets presents Laurina Paperina
in Killing Art Creatively
Story by Jofer Serapio and Interview by Erin Emocling
Mentioned: pop culture, ducks and rodents, and that one Cyndi Lauper song
* * *
 |
| art by Laurina Paperina |
"Art is Dead!"
Such boldness is the first thing anyone will see on Laurina Paperina's website. It's a striking welcome, one that should illicit a twitch in another artist's face, a vein being popped, a fist being clenched. But that's not actually Laurina’s mantra. This quirky all-around artist lives one day at a time, thus she has no need for a specific mantra.
 |
| art by Laurina Paperina |
Laurina just doesn't want to make serious art. She believes that the world we are living in is sad enough without art pouring more salt over the gaping wound. Like that one Cyndi Lauper song, she just wants to have fun and, in the process, entertain her audience.
The phrase is more ironic, really: she kills famous artists in her work, artists who are well-known and well-appreciated in the community and especially artists she personally admires. "So it's like saying," she explains. "I love you, but I kill you!" It's a strange homage by a strange girl, but it's more genuine than anything we'll ever experience.
 |
| art by Laurina Paperina |
In English, the name Laurina Paperina means "little Laura, little duck." Her last name is nonsensical in the Italian language. Contrary to what most people would think, it doesn't have anything to do with the English word "paper." According to her, when she was just a child, she was hit by a car. Laurina’s feet were crushed, turning them into "duck feet." Hence, the name. Still, it must have been destiny that she finds herself working with paper each day.
To Laurina, however, the medium is not important. All that she creates begin as drawings before they transcend into animation, installations, and photography. These are just consequences of her art spilling out into the world.
 |
| art by Laurina Paperina |
She started drawing when she was little. Before she mutated into a bizarre creature with the body of a human and the feet of a duck, Laurina quips. But unlike the colorful men led by a bald man in a wheelchair, she says she has no real superpowers. She could have fooled us: her brand of art could be her superpower.
 |
| art by Laurina Paperina |
Laurina attests to growing up holed in her bedroom in a small town in Italy. Reading comic books and drawing odd characters were two things that kept her busy (when she's not fighting crime, we suppose). She studied in the Art Institute and then in the Academy of Fine Arts before taking to her craft on a professional level.
 |
| art by Laurina Paperina |
Among the things that inspire Laurina are fanzines, comic books, art in general, food, music, television, movies, nature, animals—basically everything that exists around her, around us, and even extending to the things that not everyone is privy to existing. Drawings, paintings, cartoons, and even installations serve as her everyday fuel. For the past years, she has been incorporating her ironic commentaries on current events—mostly those related to art, movies, and music—in her work. "Pop culture is part of me," she confides.
 |
| art by Laurina Paperina |
When asked about her power animal, Laurina does not hesitate to answer: it would have to be the duck, considering it's in her name. Her alternate ego, however, would have to be a rodent. When asked why, she attributes the decision to her penchant for drawing rodents, although the reason for why she draws them in the first place she doesn't really know.
In an alternate universe where art does not exist, Laurina would prefer to have no name. "It should be peculiar," she tells us. As for what she would be doing instead: "Probably... I would live in a woodland with my rodent friends..."
 |
| art by Laurina Paperina |
Currently, Laurina is working on new paintings and installations built around the idea of "HOW TO KILL THE ARTISTS," as well as other projects focused on fake animals and outlandish monsters. She also wants to create new fanzines incorporating her drawings and, of course, to find an editor/publisher.
 |
| art by Laurina Paperina |
More from Laurina Paperina
0 comments:
Post a Comment