Elaine Mullings

A delight in material and process is the currency that runs through my printmaking. My fascination here is with the circle; flat shimmery discs of colour that feature in my screen prints. An arts residency in China made a lasting impact on my use of colour and luminous or iridescent pigments. I recently developed a particular technique of monotype screen-printing – a way of creating images that exists somewhere between printing and painting. Each print consists of several layers of gestural painting created during the printing process. This allows spontaneous abstract images to evolve. Although similar in form, colour and tone each piece emerges as an intensely coloured, unique print.

Over the past year, I developed the 'Ghost Boat' series, a range of original limited-edition mono prints, that were created in response to the situation of refugees and migrants. These prints are imaginings: the fragile feelings and anxiety of crossing seas with all you possess and praying that you will survive. But in every imagining, the gestures also reveal elation and hope.

2009-11 MFA Sculpture - Slade School of Fine Art, UCL, London 
2006-09 BA (Hons) Drawing - Camberwell College of Art, London
2005-06 Foundation Diploma in Art & Design - Camberwell College of Art, London
1985-90 BA (Hons) Italian Studies & Political Science - Lancaster University Bailrigg, Lancaster 
1988-89 University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
Awards
2010 The Red Mansion Foundation Art Prize 
2009-11 Arts and Humanities Research Council Postgraduate Award