Artist Profile: Bianca Brandolino

Bianca Brandolino is a multidisciplinary artist and designer from Milwaukee, WI. In 2015, Bianca received two Bachelors of Arts degrees in Painting and Drawing, and Design and Visual Communications from Peck School of the Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, along with a Fine Arts Minor in Art History. The majority of their creative work is derived from their own human experiences; acting as an invitation to discuss fat acceptance, mental illness, healing from trauma, gender identity and finding the silver linings that keeps one going on the daily. Refusing to limit themself to one medium—they explore many forms of creation—but find that quilting, use of fabric, and narrative zine story telling have been continuous creative threads that they’ve followed.

1) What's your creative muse?

For me, creation is a form of self healing. I’ve used art as an escape and a means to examine my own inner self-makings since I was a child. That has evolved significantly over the years as I’ve learned to merge concept with form more effectively. I am constantly sitting within myself and thinking about what the kind of work I create would have meant for me to have access to as a child or when I was going through the harder parts of my life. How wonderful would it have been to have had access to artwork which discusses the reality of mental illness and trauma. Creation has become a way for me to become who and what I needed when I was struggling. In more than one capacity, I think this way of making was informed by finding Studio Ghibli films in my teens (which helped me escape into various safe worlds when my own world felt hard enough to deal with). For that reason, I feel a deep creative draw when I view Ghibli films. I still regularly draw upon them when I am attempting to write my own content for mental health-based zines or even when I am dreaming up visual landscapes to build in my paintings.

Additionally, I am continually drawn to the human form and certainly regard it as a creative muse—one that I continue to draw upon. I see so much within the human form, especially in larger bodies, and love to recontextualize the imagery into a visual landscape in my own abstract paintings. I also love specifically to draw my own, as every time I find myself examining my own nude form for my own paintings or zines (such as my zine A New Day ), it becomes another act of self healing because in my youth it was always suggested that my body wasn’t ‘right’ by society and people I knew just by being larger. I feel like my fascination and passion that I have for the human form won’t evaporate. And certainly hope that I can continue to explore the landscape of the body in new and interesting ways throughout the duration of my creative endeavors…now and in the future.

2) Is there one contemporary printmaker you've been particularly affected or influenced by?

I find that I am more drawn to contemporary painters. They happen to more actively influence my creative work. However, quite a few of them employ printmaking techniques or collage techniques to develop their paintings into multimedia masterpieces. One artist that works this way that comes to mind is Wangechi Mutu, a Kenyan-born American artist whose work I had the privilege to see when I worked at the Milwaukee Art Museum during the “30 Americans” show. The vibrancy and texture building that she was able to implement in her works of bodily abstraction were show-stopping. Mutu’s work is also heavily conceptual, addressing the human form through the lens of a black woman in our white heteropatriarchal society. Her use of pattern is also meant to evoke a sense of surrealism while still correlating to the human form ultimately. I also love how her use of texture is reminiscent of everything from early Lee Krasner paintings from the 1950s to the way women across the country build their own quilt patterns- two additional things that really influence me creatively and continually inspire my own artistic vision. 

3) Describe your favorite type of art to create. Does it differ from your fave type of art to be a consumer of?

Because I work in multiple disciplines and mediums, the most enjoyable part of art creation is feeling the synching up of concept with my own mental image of the work’s visual imagery then the subsequent moments of fruition. I find that zine making and painting are both equally rewarding in the creation sense for me, which is why they are currently my primary forms of creation at this moment. With painting, it’s almost a visceral release and it incorporates my brain to my hand to the lines that I paint which is very physical as well as powerful—it’s so easy to slip into the ‘zone’ when I make this kind of work which is super enjoyable and leaves me feeling very accomplished. However, with zines it’s very planned out for me. I have to write body text, edit text plus sketch out what kind of imagery I want to use to convey the message at the center of the work—culminating into a large effort that ultimately pays off when I am able to weave all of those aspects together. At the end of the day, both forms of creation are rewarding. But there is something incredibly special about seeing someone handle a zine tied to your human experiences and hearing them explain that they also connect to it. This is what makes this form of creation so empowering while also encouraging me to continue to make more accessible works of art for folks to enjoy or experience. 

I also tend to consume more zines than anything else. Zines are so impressively accessible; the obvious intention in so many ways. As a result, I find that when I connect with a work that is a zine or an artist book, it’s easier to financially swing it. I actually have two large shelves in my studio to showcase my zines, artist books and artist prints that I’ve purchased from folks whose work I connected with. I particularly enjoy zines that share the creator’s own stories pertaining to, addressing or living with mental illness, chronic illness, trauma or gender identity. I do enjoy consuming paintings because going to see such work in person always ‘fills my cup’ creatively. So I always feel inspired to create further work plus feel affirmed in the knowledge that creating artwork is what I need to thrive holistically. 

4) Any particular type of art (or specific artists) you wish people were more aware of?

Abstract Expressionist art, but not the typical male artists that come up when you google the term. I’m specifically talking about women artists who were working during this time, yet ultimately were overshadowed by their male counterparts (such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko) in this art movement. Abstract expressionism has had wonderful work by artists such as Lee Krasner, Helen Frankenthaler, Elaine de Kooning, Joan Mitchell and Agnes Martin. These painters have continually influenced me and have been whose work I turn to viewing in person when I’m feeling creatively stuck. Whether it’s a giant color field painting of seeping colors in Frankenthaler’s works or the meditative line work painting by Agnes Martin—that were as much serious paintings as they were patient contemplations—this genre of art has so much to examine plus still relates to the contemporary painting landscape. 

Quilting and quilted art is also something that I want to see more folks paying attention to! Quilting has always been there as a creative outlet for women (and now queer artists like myself) throughout history. In fact, quilting was a huge tool for community building as well with gatherings like quilting bees: groups of people who came together to make quilting blocks, then combine them into a shared quilt or to work their own quilts in each other’s company. I think we are seeing many contemporary artists referencing quilting (or other methods of creation) which have been traditionally relegated as ‘women’s work,’ but are now being ‘elevated’ by being shown in contemporary art spaces rather than forcing these means of creation to be confined solely to homes. I highly recommend to pretty much everyone that I end up discussing quilting with that they look into the quilts of Gee’s Bend. The women quilters from Gee’s Bend, Alabama were direct descendants of enslaved folks from that area who formed quite the body of quilt work together—absolutely beautiful and modern quilts that have inspired many contemporary artists working today.