Artistic Expression of the Alternative Scene
If you’re a fan of the horror/gothic art genres, you’ve likely stumbled across the works of blackpatota (Vanessa) on Instagram. Known for invoking a visceral response in on-lookers, what may seem dark and haunting to some, appears beautiful and uplifting to those who understand the underlying message of the work. We were able to talk with Vanessa about artistic influences, the passion behind the projects, and much more detailed below!
While the influences from the horror/gothic genre are readily apparent from the pieces above, the reasoning behind the love for the genre may not be so easily identified. “My love for horror comes from how the genre has pushed the art industry to be more open about topics such as death, sex, trauma, and especially mental health, which brings a needed balance to the positive stuff, like love,” says Vanessa. “I kept things to myself and a lot of those things were ugly and sad, but through horror I feel more comfortable in myself, and I'm not ashamed to show the terrible things that I have gone through. As a matter of fact it makes me more beautiful and human like everybody else.” Whether your passion lies in hand-drawn creations, music, or any other forms of art, the creative process acts as an outlet for the artist to express their thoughts and emotions - an outlet Vanessa is certainly taking advantage of.
Regardless of your journey in life, it is essential to maintain a healthy balance of passion and work. For Vanessa, the idea of pursuing art as a full-time career is a relatively new one, but has not stopped her from pursuing passion projects strictly for the sake of fun. “I have loved art since I was very young, but I only considered it as a full time career several years ago when I realized that it's actually possible to make a living as an artist.” Vanessa continues, “Meanwhile, passion projects keep the fun in what I do. They push me to do things I've never done or rarely done, and I do like to be artistically challenged. I enjoy either making art series or bigger pieces, trying out different mediums, and collaborating with artists. Right now I'm trying out tattooing, and if it all works well at the end, I might make that a full time job in the future.”
Given the black and white nature of the body of work Vanessa has created to date, it’s reasonable that tattooing would be an interesting line of work to explore. While the use of color can invoke a response that black and white cannot always achieve, there is an intrinsic beauty in the ability to trigger emotion with shading and contrast alone. When discussing the use of color in art, Vanessa had this to say: “Colors are important to convey meaning, since each color, or a group of colors, can project different types of feelings and atmosphere. However, in my case, I draw with one black ink, and with that itself I manage to find ways to express the feelings I want to express through shading, which creates the form, the contrast, and the details that can be appreciated just as much with colors.” Vanessa then followed that up with a simple “It just feels right to do it in black and white.”
Considering we are generally a music-focused publication, we thought it appropriate to ask if Vanessa had ever considered getting involved in creating album art, to which she responded: “I think it would be really cool making some album covers; it's something I'd like to branch out more, but I'm not sure if my art style fits what the music industry is looking for. If I were to be given the chance, I'd love to make art for Beabadoobee, Highly Suspect, Corpse, Cleopatrick, Black Sabbath, Joji, and maybe some new upcoming alternative bands.” As Vanessa continues to explore digital art forms (see above), we’re confident the nature of the work would fit quite well with some of the various alternative music subgenres.
If you’re a fan of the pieces depicted throughout this article, be sure to check out Vanessa on Instagram (@blackpatota) to check out the rest of the work!