CHROMATIC CONFINES
PANTALONE & RITA REIS
Pantalone is an illustration duo made up of Milena Berta e Alessandro Pedretti. Long-time collaborators in the realm of sculpture, music and installation, their foray into illustration was prompted by the isolation of Covid-19 lockdowns. “Since the quarantine prevented us from reaching our workplaces, we developed a passion that due to other commitments, we had not explored together previously,” they told Cluster, “the management of space, depth and composition are aspects found in both stone carving and music, interpreting them with a new medium has allowed us to expand our expressive possibilities.”
In their spare use of colour, Pantalone’s vivid images use minimalist principles to engage with the symbolic realm. Using collage, and two single-tone colours - blue and orange - prepared especially in a paint factory, they create situations that stimulate the imagination, “just as a dream affects your day, our collages aim to evoke moments of reflection within life,” they explain. Each colour is used with a specific technique; blue to be implemented on a textured background, and orange on smoother surfaces, set off against white space.
They approach each piece by reviewing a binder of sketches, comparing what is before them with visions from memory. Next, with scissors, glue, marker pens and pencils, they create an elaborate mix of images to ponder over, before realigning these arrangements through college. The duo joined Cluster to learn how to promote their art, manage their artistic profile and to participate in a creative community. Aside from their collaboration with Cluster, the pair have recently been selected for the Daphne Association award ‘Nowhere is Far’. “Our collage, In Limbo, will be part of a travelling exhibition, which will connect Italy with the USA. Good news, right?”
Likewise, Rita Reis has a background in the wider field of arts. A sculpture graduate of the University of Porto, she developed her illustration practise after completing her degree, primarily as a means of communication, “this shift was not programmed, but something that came naturally.” Again, Rita works with three to four colours at a time, her limited choice of colours and how they are layered contribute to a harmonious tone in her work. “The application of colour can totally condition the message,” she explains, “colour is, like shape, a tool for communication, though not exactly rational - to me, colours are instinctive visual balances that make sense in the moment.”
Fittingly, she is interested in investigating a range of emotional registers in her work. Through her codes of colour she explores the human relationship with time and nature. Her stripped-back illustrations have a dream-like quality; somewhat clouded but full of feeling. “As an artist it is my responsibility to evoke social, political and human problems, but also to talk about emotions and states of mind,” she told us, “the emotional side is crucial.”
Distinctively humourous, her minimal, comic-like style toys with well-established truisms. Like a good joke, she pokes fun at the status quo by making it absurd. “I like to base my ideas in the familiar, and try and flip those assumptions on their head so I can reveal something new out of something old.” She uses this style as a shorthand for larger ideas, mixing light-hearted comic culture with sometimes scathing critiques. There’s a lot that can be said through cartoons, still or animated, and it is the place where I tend to feel most at home with my voice.
She starts with a pun, sketching out comic panels page by page, going over it with blue pencil and ink before removing any stray lines in Photoshop. Recently, she’d been easing herself away from computer software in favour of good, old-fashioned coloured pencils. Feeling often confined by reference photos, Natalie works largely from memory, “I have found that the most natural way of drawing for me consists of relying on memory and just allowing my hand to follow, fixing any mistakes as I go along,” she explains, “I also find this way to be the most enjoyable and fun, and I will usually come across unexpected answers to any problems I encounter.”
Rita starts by hand drawing, in order to understand on a formal level how to approach communicating an idea. Some projects she goes on to develop digitally, while others are completed using acrylics. “The colour appears when I have already determined the shape,” she added. Through Cluster, Rita hopes to learn how to access new markets for her illustrations, and be part of a creative exchange. Right now, she is focusing on her sculptural work, specifically a project names MARIAS, which aims to exalt femininity, regardless of gender or sexual orientarion, and the right to individuality.
With pared-back tonal ranges, the work of these artists ring with the wisdom of that age-old truism; that sometimes less is more, especially, in this case, where colour is concerned. By allowing each shade the space to define itself, it allows us as viewers to be taken by them, and in turn demonstrates the creative potential of limits.
Work by both Pantalone and Rita Reis can be viewed on the Cluster Illustration platform
and purchased through our Cluster Illustration Online Shop.
Thank you for reading,
Stephanie Gavan & Cluster Team.