Gurilla Speaks to the Imagination With Soft Enthralling Anonymous Portraits and Prints
Gurilla Speaks to the Imagination With Soft Enthralling Anonymous Portraits and Prints
Guðrið Syderbø guides us through her mysterious portraits and future in furniture design
Name:
Gurilla
Photography:
Courtesy of Gurilla
Words:
Caroline Meeusen
Guðrið Syderbø, better known as Gurilla, is a graphic designer from the Faroe Islands who creates the most enchanting and mysterious portraits and prints. With soft colors, blurry imagery, and emotional perspectives she draws you into her work. Gurilla takes inspiration from atmosphere, moments, silence, situations, and intuition, and transfers this into her work to inspire others. Even without showing actual faces, she manages to achieve a great sense of vulnerability and emotion in her prints.She has been making these prints since 2014 but has long been interested in interior and furniture design as well. That is why she is finally turning her dream to make furniture into a reality. The chair she is designing may not have the same gentle sensation as her prints, but will likely be just as creative. Gurilla talks about her creative process, portraits, and future in furniture design.
Photography by Michiel Bosman
VISUAL PLEASURE Magazine: Did you always know you’d be an artist? And have you always expressed yourself through art?
Gurilla: I have always known that I wanted to work with something visual. I am not sure that artist is the right title for me. I think of myself more like a designer.
Do you paint your portraits or is it all digital?
I don’t paint with a traditional pencil in my hand but with a digital pen on my computer. Being a graphic designer, it comes natural to me to work on the computer. And I love to be able to undo and work in layers.
Your designs look so soft and “blurry.” What techniques do you use to achieve this?
Working digital I have all kinds of tools which make it possible to make the look blurry and soft.
Is there a reason you blur the faces and make the portraits kind of anonymous?
I guess I try to scratch everything that is “unnecessary” and only leave the atmosphere and feeling. I think it is easier to not get distracted if you can’t read a facial expression. I have had an experience that a customer told me that he wanted to get the portrait of the sad woman and another one would like to get the portrait of the happy woman. They both meant the same portrait.
Photography by Michiel Bosman
Photography by Michiel Bosman
Besides looking soft, your portraits also feel vulnerable to me. Is that your intention?
My intention is to make it possible for everyone to see their own person in the portrait. I think that is the strength in my portrait collection.
How do you achieve this sense of emotion without portraying any faces or expressions?
I like the idea to leave something to the imagination. It makes people decide which mood and atmosphere is in the picture.
Who are the people in your works?
The people are exactly the people that you see. Some people see themselves, some see their mother and other see their daughter. And they all guessed right.
What do you want to bring across with your works?
I don’t know if I have something particular that I want to bring across with my works. But something that makes me happy and makes me want to do more is when people tell me that a portrait reminds them of their mother when she was young or a good friend. One customer once messaged me a picture of his mother, when she was young. The resemblance to Portrait H was so strong. He had purchased the print because he felt it was special. Later on, he found this picture of his mother. Then he understood why he had such a strong connection to it. Stories like that are beautiful, I think.
Photography by Michiel Bosman
Photography by Michiel Bosman
What makes you start a new print? Does inspiration just come to you?
I start a new print when I have seen or felt something interesting—a picture, a situation, or color combination—in a café or on a walk.
What or who inspires you?
I get my inspirations from people, atmosphere, situations, colors, light. All around. When it comes to artists, I like Hammershøi very much. It is the feeling and the unsaid in his pictures that I find highly interesting.
You’re also going to design and make furniture. Why this shift?
Well, I don’t see it as a shift, more like an expand for my brand. As I said earlier, I see myself more as a designer than an artist. And I have always had an interest in furniture and interior.
Will we recognize the same sensitive style in the furniture?
I’m currently working on a chair concept that makes it possible for people to build their own. So, as it looks now, it will be more geometric rather than organic. But we’ll see where it goes.
Photography by Studio Gabrielle
Photography by Studio Gabrielle
