Laura Carlin – OFFSET DUBLIN
Laura Carlin is an English illustrator and ceramicist based in London. An award winning illustrator (of which include the Bratislava Children’s book illustration award), her work is considered abstract and dreamlike in nature with focus on animals and childlike curiosity.
Graduation from the Royal College of Art in 2004, she has been based in London since. A natural creative from youth, her path to that point was organic from playing with her two older brothers, specifically helping them draw bird’s-eye-view- battle grounds for fun. Carlin has carried her youthful influence throughout her career, drawing innocently themed observations since with a strong dreamlike quality. In her speech at Offset Dublin in 2017, she identifies this influence directly showcasing a piece she worked on for the New York Times. Carlin says “Channeling that child side of your brain that enjoys work and just works instinctively(…)” is important to her and is the source of a lot of her work. “I often love going back to the images I’ve known from childhood to remind myself of who I am.”
Earning a scholarship to go to Japan, Carlin’s work took on more significance to the perception of the audience. After criticism from a tutor beforehand, she became introspective and understanding of how art could be received by people. This, she says, is the point she became more of an illustrator than a painter. Self-Publishing her book “Ten Days in Tokyo” was a jump in direction. The attempt to convey a message in her work became the most important aspect and this thinking about how art was read into allowed her to think about the audience for the first. Taking inspiration from Picasso, Andre Francois and Saul Steinberg, Carlin tries her best to take only inspiration in their themes and not in their physical art or techniques.
Carlin’s art is described as naive by herself. The simplicity is apparent in her work, feels effortless and very natural. Animals, cars and people from a distance look unfinished but perfected in her own way. Her use of block colours are primarily full of black and white with one focus that draws in the viewer. Usually the block colours are in the small details that you wouldn’t notice if it were in black and white. In the image above, block colours are used to enhance details like scarfs, feathers and ruffles on dresses. It’s simple but so effectively done. Often leaning into surreal territory, her art is encapsulating and always interesting. She currently works as a designer with The New Craftsman, a business setup to help sell the work and raise awareness of UK based artists and inspired designers. Her ceramic pieces are sold on the website and range from whimsical tile work to small porcelain sculptures of the bizarre.
