Featured Artist: Catrinarno
When Australian band, Rezzalp, created their album ‘In My Dreams’, they knew exactly where to go for a suitable album cover. Catrin Welz-Stein is a master of dreamscapes and expertly brings together images that would reflect the band’s theatrical and rather quirky music. Catrinarno (in Bubblespeak) revels in bringing together images from Picasso, Klimt, Botticelli and Otto Dix among others, using Photoshop to sew the works of these greats into her own surreal quilt.
There is a cool grace in each of her images, thanks in part to the cleverly-selected sources of reference material, but no less the skill that Welz-Stein employs in bringing them together. Characters gaze directly at the viewer with a nonchalance that puts him/her at ease while taking in the otherworldly scene. “Yes, so we are suspended by our pig-tails in a makeshift balloon: What of it?” – So the expressions of three airborne sisters seem to beg.
In spite of the enormous variety in the subject matter, one of the many strengths of Catrinarno’s portfolio is its cohesion: Although each image and indeed each series (such as “In My Dreams”, “Moonwalk” and “The Storyteller”) is unique, Welz-Stein’s work forever maintains its astral beauty.
The artist studied Graphic Design in Darmstadt, Germany and has worked for a variety of advertising companies, where, interestingly enough, her quirky birthday cards for colleagues put her onto her present path. She now resides happily in Malaysia, where she continues her output of these gorgeous images.