Abril Andrade

Our second art installment for May is the dark and gothic imagery of Abril Andrade. Tim Burton-esque characters (with Todd McFarlane style cow-eyes!) populate Abril's world of horror and innocence.

Check out the interview below, click on the pretty little thumbnails on the right, and, if you still want more, go and visit Abril's own website just here.

How are you??
I'm doing great.

If you were talking to a stranger, how would you describe yourself in three words:
Artistic, Hyper, and Dangerous.

Your artwork could be described as 'gothic' or 'innocent', would you agree with any of those descriptions? Or both of them?
Both of them describe my work.

Does the darker side of your art reflect your taste in other things in life, like movies and music?
Yes, I Believe it does reflect on a lot of things listen to a lot of random and different music but one of my favorites is gothic and industrial, and when it comes to movies the darker the better.

Talking about music, what do you listen to when your creating?
I listen from gothic music to country, I know it’s a pretty weird combination , before I met my husband gothic was all I knew, he listens to a lot of country and I got use to it with time and now I enjoy it a lot, my favorites included Johnny Cash, Hank the 3rd, George Jones, Brooks and Dunn, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, Hank Williams Sr, Randy Travis, Hank Jr, Kenny Rogers, Alan Jackson, David Allan Coe, Gwen Stefani, Johnny Paycheck, Lynard Skynard, Apoptygma Berzerk, Covenant , London After Midnight, Death In June, KMFDM, London After Midnight, Nosferatu, Bella Morte, Sister Machine Gun, Autumn, Bauhaus, Christian Death, The Cure, Sisters of Mercy, Ocico, Dead Can Dance, Skinny Puppy, Siouxsie and the Banshees.

Who would you say are your biggest influences, and is there anyone in particular that we might not have heard of that you think we should check out?
I have always love big eyes, I have two cousins who have enormous eyes and I just stare at them for hours it’s a weird fascination.
I draw inspiration from my husband Matt. He has a huge imagination and his work is stunning. I have learned a lot from him and he has from me. We help each other out when we need it. He is my number one fan and gives me all the support I need. I have to also include my favorite painters and family, each one has inspired me in different ways: my brother Carlos, my awesome Mom Rosalinda, Salvador Dali, Jason Daquino, Mark Ryden, Colin and Sas Christian, Joe Capobianco, Frida Kahlo, Marion Peck, Trevor Brown, Gig, Margaret Keane, Octavio Ocampo, Diego Rivera, Leonardo da Vinci, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jackson Pollock and my Art Teacher in Spain Antoni.

You seem to have a hell of a lot of tattoos - did you design them all yourself?
Believe it or not I haven’t design any of my tattoos, it has all been work of my husband, he is a professional tattoo artist and he has done about 95% of my ink, I have a lot of ideas and in the future I will be getting some of my own design/paintings on me.

Some artists love the Internet as a way of showing off their material, others just moan about people stealing their images from them. What are your thoughts on online art?
To be honest internet is a great source of exposure, Reference and information for any artist specialty if u know how to use it , To me it has open a lot of doors and made things easier to accomplish, now when it comes to your work being online your always going to have people stealing your work, and one of the reasons is probably because they like it, there’s other reasons too but that’s why I watermark my work or at least try to sometimes I forget to do it.

Do you censor your own artwork in any way? Any personal guidelines on what you will / wont show?
I don’t put any limit myself or my creativity, I have a lot of imagination and if u don’t see it on my recent work you’ll see it on my future work, I don’t think censoring my work is necessary if someone does not like my work they don’t have to look at it.

If you were interviewing yourself, what question would you ask yourself?
Where do you see yourself in ten years?
10 years from now I will be 35. Hopefully, I will be the a proud mother , and a well-known and established painter. I have a lot of projects in mind: I want to publish a book with my art, open a tattoo studio, travel , have art shows booked up years in advance, and more exposure.

Why should the lazy general public make the effort to check you out, and what have you got planned for the future?
I think there’s something for everyone when it comes to the type of art I do, its fun , different, and unique in its own way.
I have a my first Solo Show in August 11, at the Monkey House Toys and Gallery , located at 1618 ½ Silverlake Blvd. Los Angeles Ca 90026 United States
For more information you can go to my website www.abrilandrade.com and www.monkeyhousetoys.com , a lot of new work and great time.

And finally..... what does the word 'Voltcase' mean to you?
I keep reading the word over and over and the only thing that comes to mind is that is a box kind of like the pandora box, full of unique things, those kind of stuff that u only find in horror and fantasy movies.