Little Trace of // Melbourne Artist Miso.

In her recent Sydney exhibition, young Melbourne artist Miso brought together a collection of works made with fine pin pricks on paper. These pieces are a reflection of her personal experience of travelling over the last few years. Drawing inspiration from indigenous artists, Dorothy Napangardi, Miso’s work maps stories and memories of the land as she travelled through it.

Capturing visual snippets from maps, objects and personal belongings, each drawing weaves together her memories of a city. The collaging of memories feels impulsive and driven by emotion, intuition and fleeting memories. The drawings invite us into the internal place where the impression of a place has left its mark.

Featured Project // Miso’s pinprick drawings from her recent exhibition “Everywhere I Have Ever Been”.
Why It Rocks // Her delicately crafted, all white drawings have a quiet, but powerful and evocative energy.

The paper master herself joins us today on Yellowtrace.
–Ella.

 Miso in her studio photographed by Olga Bennett.

+ Could you please give us a quick introduction on yourself?

My name is Stanislava. I live & work in Melbourne – sometimes between Tokyo, where I am right now for the next while, sometimes Berlin – where I’m heading next. I work mainly with works on paper – drawing, cutting, pin-pricking – but also painting walls, installations, tattooing, polaroids, sometimes design, sometimes in fashion. Lots of things, really.

Miso’s pinpricked drawings. See gallery at the bottom of this post to open images in full size. Do it!

+ When did you begin exploring pin prick drawing and how did you come to working with this technique?

It evolved from doing a lot of paper-cut works, and I started using pin-pricks for the small details that I couldn’t carve with my scalpel. I played with making works with it for a long time before I put anything out – it’s hard to think about making images carving back from a blank piece of paper, rather than adding anything to it. Making something from the empty space! It’s more sculptural that way – it’s been a really good challenge. I’m rubbish at sculpture!

Miso’s pinpricked drawings. See gallery at the bottom of this post to open images in full size. You won’t regret it!

+ Pinprick drawings mustn’t leave much room for error. Can you share a bit about the process?

No – there’s not much room for error! But that’s what I love about them – they look really calculated, very disciplined and minimal. But to make them, I’m basically hammering a pin into paper, really fast! It’s an incredibly loud and physically intense process. So I quite like the duality of it all – something kind of feminine, subtle and delicate, but also painful & difficult to make.

Miso’s pinpricked drawings. See gallery at the bottom of this post to open images in full size. You know you want to!

+ You’ve worked as a street artist, exhibited in galleries and also do tattoo art for personal friends. Is there a common thread between these? Does your artistic intent or your approach change between audiences?

There’s a huge thread in it all – a question of ownership, an interest in the life-cycle of an ephemeral artwork, a physical relationship to viewing artwork. I was feeling for a long time like I was making very ephemeral things – wheatpastes and walls that would deteriorate with weather and pollution, or be torn down or painted over. I was making a lot of artwork too, but that was always going to someone else’s home at the end of the day. And on top of that, my artwork was getting expensive, out of reach for most people that I knew at the time ; friends my age.

So home-made  tattooing became a really satisfying part of my practice, but still a hobby I’d do at night –  we sit and draw and drink all night, and they’d get something really unique, an artwork just for them in mind. So far, I’ve really just kept it as a trade system, and only for friends – it’s too important and intimate for me to take money for, at this stage. A trade for what someone feels its worth – maybe they teach me a skill in return, cook me dinner, give me a book I would love, assistiant work, whiskey. You never know, but everyone feels good about it, which I like. But more and more, I feel like it’s becoming a bigger part of my practice.

But other than that – everything I make is really personal, and the intent and approach never changes for the consideration of audiences, really.

Miso’s homemade tattoos.

+ Who or what are some of your influences? What other artists, designers, peers and creatives do you admire?

Right now, I’m more obsessed with architecture! Sou Fujimoto, SANAA and Ryue Nishizawa. The whiteness and the structure of their works, the negotiation of private, public & green space, I’m completely in love with it. I think it’s really going to inform what I make next more than anything else!

+ Apart from your work, what other interests or hobbies do you have?

I feel like making art consumes most of my time – which I’m pretty happy about, as long as I have a studio visitor once in a while. Otherwise, I’m a pretty keen reader, I swim a lot, ride bikes, make friends with neighbourhood dogs on the walk home.

Miso’s pinpricked drawing. See gallery at the bottom of this post to open images in full size. Go on.

+ Your most treasured belonging?

Maybe my pile of sketchbooks and journals – they feel like dear friends to me as I keep them, house all my polaroid archives, writing, notes, drawings. I think I’d save them from a burning house above anything else.

One of Miso’s precious sketchbooks.

+ What’s one thing other people may not know about you?

I’m really, really good at drawing Milhouse from The Simpsons.

Miso’s pinpricked drawings. See gallery at the bottom of this post to open images in full size. Nearly there…

+ It’s not very cool, but I really like…

…. taiko! I’m in Tokyo right now, and at all the game arcades, they have this video game called ‘taiko’, which is a traditional Japanese drum that’s wired to an arcade screen to play really cheesy J-Pop songs, so you have to match the beat to the song on this huge drum. I’m obsessed with it. I detour every night past an arcade with friends. I don’t know why!

+ In ten years I’d like to be…

…just as happy and just as productive. Maybe with a dog.

Gallery of Miso’s full size pinprick images. Click to view full size and use arrows to navigate.

[Images courtesy of Miso.]