Artist to Know: Ella Rosa - Inside Art with Michael Rose

Artist to Know: Ella Rosa - Inside Art with Michael Rose

 

Contemporary viewers experience a mountain of visual stimuli every day, from social media to streaming video. Parsing through that imagery can be a challenge for some or an inspiration for others. Rhode Island artist Ella Rosa, who shares her art under the name Pulp Prints, creates vivid digital collages that draw from all manner of images, from pop culture to obscure lore and everything in between. Through her digital art, she has developed a large audience and is one of the state’s most promising young creatives.

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Rosa was born in Providence but was raised mostly in Westerly. Spending weekends on Thayer Street and Federal Hill helped to find, in her words, “the best of both worlds”, and led to what she describes as the “themes of duality” that appear in her work. Largely self taught, she has found a niche as an inventive digital artist while cultivating a voice of her own. In addition to making work for herself, she also has created album artwork and merchandise designs for a handful of local bands and musicians including ToadStool, BOCHEK, jesse the Tree, Harvey Garbage, and Joy Boys.

 

The music scene is one influence on her work, but there are many others. A quick perusal of her recent artworks finds reference points like Saint Sebastian or the Rhode Island Statehouse mixed in with imagery of skulls, kittens, robots, and butterflies. Packed with aesthetic information, Rosa’s works are also well-balanced and finely composed. For those who care to look closely, there are also hidden messages and coded stories.

 

 

Rosa’s digital collages are complex and full of life. Reflecting on how they come together, she speaks about her process, saying, “I usually throw on a record or movie in the background, and start to look through images I’ve collected over the years from vintage books of mine, and public access artwork. Unless it is a commission with a specific direction, I will group together images I feel will tell a story together, in color and emotion, and go from there. It’s a lot like piecing a puzzle together.”

 

The idea of her work as a puzzle is helpful for viewers who might be intimidated by the intensity and complexity of Rosa’s artwork. By looking closely, one can begin to take apart the many parts of her compositions and begin to puzzle out how they were assembled.

 

Pulling from a myriad of sources, Rosa’s prints offer different viewers from varying backgrounds the chance to find their own references and meanings. Speaking of where she draws influences from for her work, Rosa says, “Inspiration comes to me mostly through movies, along with music, and literature! I adore old Horror films and French New Wave cinema, both genres heavily dealing with absurdism as well as the duality of lightness and darkness, tragedy and comedy. A lot of my artwork reflects these themes of duality, which I also draw from the absurdity of life in general.”

 

 

A member of the state’s younger generation of art-makers, Rosa’s artistic career is driven partially by her impressive online renown but also by actively vending at various art marketplaces in the area. She also regularly takes commissions and has a collaborative bent that makes for a connected individual within the artistic community.

 

Rosa enjoys a large and growing following on her Instagram page @pulp.prints where she regularly posts her latest collage creations. When asked what the benefits of this platform are, Rosa ties it back to community and exhibiting. She states, “The best thing about the exposure I have received is sharing it with the Providence art community, and to inspire those around me to keep doing what they love. I took a long break from vending my art to focus on marketing artwork, and now after my first group exhibition show at Van Der Plas Gallery in NYC, I have been able to participate in more local art markets again, as well as vending at local friends' music events.”

 

 

Considering what she would like her viewers to take away from their experiences of seeing her art, Rosa says, “I hope it inspires them to observe the world around them more. I hope they smile, laugh, or think of a time in their life that the piece emotes. I hope it makes them question and wonder about things they haven’t questioned before.”

 

An active artist both online and in the real world, Rosa is someone to watch. Through her rich visual imagery, she has touched on something that is deeply appealing to contemporary audiences. She has broken down the flood of imagery experienced by viewers on a daily basis and reassembled it into art.

 

Ella Rosa’s Pulp Prints can be seen on her Instagram page @pulp.prints