Anna Giersz - Cabalista, November 2012

Cabalista (noun) : [kab-uh-list-ah]
schemer, associate, member of a secret society or cabal

November 2012 sees the launch of the Cabalista project from Print Cabal. 
Every month, Print Cabal will have one featured artist. We will work with that artist to select one of their pieces, and produce a limited edition run of screen prints. Some artists work will be on t-shirts or other wearable items, some will be high quality art prints. It will vary month-to-month.
The limited edition prints will be sold through the Print Cabal online store. 
In addition to the limited edition prints, each month an additional 50 screen prints will be produced. These will be a basic one-colour version of the artwork, printed on newsprint. They will be given away for free as an 'Art Drop' in a different Cork city location each month. 

Our first Cabalista is Anna Giersz, a Polish artist, illustrator, and photographer currently living in Cork. 

Print Cabal
Your work, first of all, is quite varied is style. There's drawings, more traditional illustration, watercolour, photography - have you always expressed yourself through different media, and is it intentional, or do you feel you're still exploring and looking for the form you love best?


Anna Giersz

2011

 Without a doubt I’m still exploring but I’m becoming more curious to investigate the forms already known to me. I have been drawing for as long as I can remember. Drawing is quite a natural primeval human activity and when I was a young child drawing was my favourite activity, during school and in my free time.
Up to this day, my sketchbooks are filled with fast sketches, ideas or even silly words and I always go back to them to refresh and transform my ideas. Painting and photography came much later. I first came into contact with oil painting in high school, started exploring various techniques, playing around with different styles and I feel like I’ve already done a great deal of it. I treat photography as a tool which helps me to look at objects from an entirely different perspective and is now one of my most beloved mediums.

Altar Of Plagues promo shot, 2011

In other words, at this moment in my career, I’m trying to push the boundaries, reach the limit of my capabilities when it comes to my drawing and painting skills. Even if the level of my abilities currently satisfies me I want to push the borders of playfulness and mix different styles together to achieve the effect I want. I’ve already played with several media and I’m still exploring. In my next projects I’d like to mix elements of 2D and 3D. Sound, noise and moving images interest me as well. However it turns out, I’m sure it’ll bring a great deal of experience and satisfaction.









   

Print Cabal
Do you think that progression is partly under influence from living and working in Cork? There is currently a pretty strong scene in Cork around installation art, sound art, and with some very experimental noise/art groups emerging. Does that differ to the art scene in Poland? Or is the crossover between noise and art something that came naturally?

Anna Giersz
Cork influences me in many ways. I admire its vibrant and diverse music and art scene, remarkably large for a city of this size. This is significantly different to what I’m used to in Poland. These are two different worlds, different cultures and history, you can recognise a different approach to art and music, in terms of techniques used, freedom of expression and approach to art as a whole but that’s normal and quite understandable. You can find certain similarities but I wouldn’t like to go into too much detail now. Living in Cork was quite liberating for my art but I retained my attitude towards quality. I am very demanding towards myself and other artists when it comes to quality of work. I work a lot on my own and I always motivate myself to try and do more. Surely, living in Cork inspired me to try different things as everyone can do anything they want here. Without exaggeration, of course, but people don’t limit themselves and are not afraid of experimentation. I like that and this diversity inspires me. You meet teachers or business people who work hard during the day and play metal in Fredz at night and are very good at it. Some do it for fun, some do it as a career, for me it’s both. So yes, it is a crossover of things. I learn from what I see, from who I meet and from everyone and everything that surrounds me.

Print Cabal
You've worked on gig posters and merch for bands before - is that something that just happened (in the usual Cork way), or is illustration and artwork for bands something you have a special interest in?

Anna Giersz

Tshirt design for Absolutist

Haha yeah, I know what you mean. It started in a way as you said, in a Cork way. I was asked by a friend to design a poster, because of his lack of time, so it was my first chance to do the poster for a really good concert actually (The Ocean). Everyone involved were very happy with it, so I became the ‘’person from posters’’ in [Cork gig collective] The Key and the Gate. I’ve always had a big fascination for design. I do have a degree as a visual artist from Constatin Brancusi High School of Art in Szczecin, Poland. I illustrated a book for Sci-fi story, did logos, posters and stuff, so I do have a background. Band artwork is something that particularly fascinates me because you have more freedom as an artist, and you get to complement some good music, so this just couldn’t get any better. Nonetheless, illustrating is still my life. A lot of research and testing goes into any one project. I want the final result to be satisfying, unique and with its own unique personality. I’m trying not to repeat myself.




Print Cabal
That research element definitely seems to show in your recent illustration work - layers of detail, and symbolism in some unexpected places. For the Cabalista project, we both agreed immediately to use your illustration 'The Bull'. Do you want to talk a little about the thinking and history behind that illustration, or would you rather people draw their own conclusions?


Anna Giersz
The graphic came from an image of a death rose petal. I was slowly working my way from the centre of a canvas and in the beginning, unintentionally; I created this image of a bull. I feel it’s important to mention it. The process plays a pivotal role here as it took me about 3 months to finish the piece. I was really careful with what I was adding and it was a slow development, but I wasn’t sitting on it every day. It was something I was coming back to when I was in the right mood. I had been creating this piece during a sensitive period in my life, thus my approach was very personal. The issue of inner renewal played an important role here. The animals’ inner nature, wild energy, and the additional elements such as the spawn, fish and the crescent define the process of psychological and intimate maturing. I wouldn’t go as far as saying it’s a catharsis, but something of the sorts.

B/W version of  'The Bull'

Anna's illustration 'The Bull' will be printed on t-shirts as a limited edition three-colour screen print. The shirts will be available at the very first Cabalista Cafe, on Saturday November 24th, at Camden Palace Hotel Arts Centre, Cork. (You can get more information and check out the event page here.) Thereafter they will be available from printcabal.bigcartel.com
View more of Anna's work on her website, or follow her page on Facebook for new work.