Tuesday's Artist: Daria Tessler

In order to keep my creative tank chugging along I like to fill it with all sorts of visual fuel. This "Tuesday's Artist" thing is my way of sharing some of the artists that inspire and delight me. I asked them to do a little finish-this-sentence sort of mini-interview so we might get to know them a little better.

This week's spotlight is shining on Daria Tessler. I'm especially taken with her gorgeous multi-layered silkscreen prints. Just the technicality alone is impressive (!) and her images are playful and quirky and often have animals doing people-ish things which (of course) I love. Plus, she seems to have a great sense of humor, which I also love.

Daria says:

If I wasn't an artist maybe I'd be a physicist, librarian or math teacher.

Today, I'm listening to a book-on-tape, a ghost story about an island of enchanted willow trees, and also the history of the byzantine empire, and also a little bit of space disco.

I wish I were better at imagining dinosaurs with useful nose appendages like tapirs. The future of dinosaurs looks funny. I just can't quite catch up with the scientists on that one.

When I was a kid I was into cross-stitching and soap operas. Needless to say I was not voted most popular kid in school.

I hate it when I spill a cup of tea all over a drawing. I do this regularly. I also hate it when my inky silkscreening squeegee flips backward off my screen and creates a windmill ink splatter all the way down to the floor. I also do this regularly.

My workspace is multipurposed, my clothes dresser is also my drawing table. I have outer space illustrations, a roller skating raccoon drawing, a guitar playing frog and a procession of bird monks taped to my wall there.

Right now, I'm really into the medieval concept that elephants had no knees. also the medieval debate as to whether a shrew mated through its ear and gave birth through its mouth or if it mated through its mouth and gave birth through its ear. Also I am really into the idea of using pizza as riot gear clothing. And robot dance parties too.

I hope that my art finds happy homes around the world.

You can see more of Daria's work on her very cool website or her blog.