If you love subtle games of mind, imagination and senses, Lucy Nurnberg’s art is the best choice. Lucy uses different symbolic images combining them in special way to create multilevel meanings. We invite you to make an enthralling travel to the realm of dark mystery, riddles, sings and metaphors.
L: Did you use collage from the beginning of your career as an illustrator? Or there were experiments with other techniques?
LN: When I first started my degree in Illustration I was drawing for almost every project I got, but soon I started looking at different mediums and found I could make work I was happier with if I was building images in different ways. I fell into collage really naturally, and since then have been using it for most projects I take on.
L: Do you implant symbols and sings as a key to find the deeper meaning of your art works? Can you name few of them?
LN: I love to fill my pictures with symbols so there are different levels of meaning within the image. Often I’ll use well known symbols from art history or folklore, other times I’ll make them up. It’s one of the great things about working in collage - it’s so easy to make deeper meaning by putting one picture next to another, and a lot of the time I’ll find my symbols just by playing around with different images and thinking about the meanings they make together.
L: What are your favourite themes to illustrate?
LN: My favourite themes to illustrate are definitely stories from mythology or religion, because I love translating the symbolism and metaphors of those narratives into visuals. I’m always drawn to darker themes, and most stories from folklore have a really dark edge that’s fun for me to illustrate.
L: Do your subconscious and dreams help you to create fascinating pieces?
LN: Yes, lots! Mostly I won’t realise until after I’ve created something but I’ll always find myself composing my pieces or putting in pictures that are similar to things I’ve been looking at recently. I don’t like to plan an image too carefully in advance because I like surprising myself with things that have come from my subconscious.
L: What sort of artists do you enjoy looking at?
LN: I’m most intrigued by artists who use a lot of symbolism in their work, so I look at a lot of religious and mystic artforms through the ages - whether that be in painted Icons, designs of altars and temples or geometric Occult drawings.
L: Any big plans for 2012?
LN: I’ve been living in New York for the past year, but am just about to move back to my hometown London, so I look forward to starting over there and looking for interesting opportunities back in England. I also just came back from an incredible two-month road trip through the States and Mexico with my girlfriend, and we really want to do something major with all the photos we took out there.
Thank you Lucy!
