{"id":5178,"date":"2015-03-06T14:43:14","date_gmt":"2015-03-06T14:43:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alchemyengland.com\/site\/?p=5178"},"modified":"2018-01-05T16:24:49","modified_gmt":"2018-01-05T16:24:49","slug":"natasha-scharf-interview-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alchemyengland.com\/site\/index.php\/2015\/03\/natasha-scharf-interview-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Natasha Scharf Interview Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Alchemist interviews Natasha Scharf, author of \u2018The Art of Gothic\u2019: Part 1.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Amongst many exceptionally original, talented and inspiring artists, Alchemy Studios are also featured in Natasha\u2019s latest and lavishly illustrated book, \u2018The Art Of Gothic\u2019. And reading through the compelling and illuminating narrative provoked several questions, including one or two subjective, philosophical ones.<\/p>\n

The Alchemist managed to nail-down Natasha when seen at a public event in London, and Natasha obligingly elucidated:<\/p>\n

Q: What inspired you to believe that this subject needed a new book creating for it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, there have been books on Gothic art (ie art relating to the historical Gothic period), books about individual gothic artists and general books on the goth subculture but no one had actually created a book on art that related to the goth subculture. I felt this needed rectifying because goth is one of the most creative modern movements and was just crying out to have a lavish book made that would acknowledge this. I loved the idea of compiling a proper coffee table volume that would really do justice to goth\u2019s dark diversity with a combination of well-known pieces and works from underground artists.<\/p>\n

Q: How much time did the research for this book take, in comparison to that of writing it, and did you need any assistance for this?<\/strong><\/p>\n

That\u2019s a tough one because I didn\u2019t start my research from the point of no knowledge \u2013 I drew on a lot of my own experiences and prior research within the goth scene over many years. For example, I knew I wanted to include pieces I\u2019ve loved throughout the decades \u2013 artworks that I\u2019ve been itching to share with a wider audience for years \u2013 as well as more contemporary discoveries that I only really found out about during the course of writing the book.<\/p>\n

I guess I started plotting things back in 2011 and writing begin the following year, amid even more research \u2013 it truly was a massive task and I don\u2019t think I realised just how big it was until the finished book came back from the printers. It\u2019s really is heavy! I personally selected every piece that went in there although I did have some input from a few trusted contacts as well \u2013 I bounced ideas off them and asked for their opinions to make sure that I hadn\u2019t missed anything important. That said, not every image I wanted to use made the final book because I either couldn\u2019t find the original copyright holder or they didn\u2019t want to be in the book for whatever reason. I also had a picture researcher who researched and contacted a lot of the copyright holders on my behalf, so I could concentrate on getting the book written!<\/p>\n

Some people have this very strange misconception that goth doesn\u2019t exist any more, let alone continue to create inspiring work. Of course, we know that just isn\u2019t true and I was still selecting paintings, album covers and clothing designs right up until the final design!<\/p>\n

Q: Did you meet many interesting characters during your researching, and if so who did you find the most fascinating and why?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh yes, I met \"3\"a great number of interesting people \u2013 some of whom I\u2019d known for years and others who I met for the first time during my research. It\u2019s really tough to pick out the most fascinating because every one had a different tale to tell and a different slant on goth. It was certainly amazing speaking to artists who\u2019d helped shape the imagery that we still consider goth \u2013 Nik Fiend from Alien Sex Fiend, Jon Klein from The Batcave, David J from Bauhaus, Carl McCoy from Fields Of The Nephilim, Steven R. Gilmore who designed a number of Skinny Puppy\u2019s sleeves\u2026 and that\u2019s just for starters. It was equally amazing to speak with the current generation of artists, who\u2019ve redefined goth and taken it to the next level.<\/p>\n

I adore Anne Sudworth and Emma Tooth\u2019s paintings and really enjoyed interviewing them. It was also wonderful speaking with Alchemy\u2019s directors and I thoroughly enjoyed interviewing designer The Wicked Lady, aka Olivia Barnard-Firth, whose motorised bat dress is quite possibly one of the most incredible thingsI\u2019ve ever seen and inspired me to include fashion garments like hers in the section on what I termed \u2018walking sculptures\u2019.<\/p>\n

So many wonderful people, my list could go on and on but my biggest disappointment was not getting the chance to speak to HR Giger in person before he died. From the interviews I\u2019ve read before, he seems like he was a really fascinating person and I would have so loved to have met him.<\/p>\n

Q: Hasn\u2019t it all been done now? Can anything new come out of\u00a0\u2019gothic art\u2019\u00a0and, if so, from your research how do you see it developing?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Goth, and gothic art, is constantly evolving; there\u2019s always a new take to be found, a new style to explore and new influences to be developed so it certainly hasn\u2019t all been done. Academics talk about Gothic tropes evolving \u2013 usually within film and literature \u2013as society finds new fears and goth has embraced many of these tropes. From medieval maidens to vampires, from zombies to mad scientists, they all pop up in gothic, as well as Gothic art, but there are also artists who aren\u2019t afraid to break the rules and make up their own tropes. This is really the secret behind goth\u2019s longevity; this mixing up of the old and new, without losing any essence of what it means to be a goth. I love the way there are so many different styles of gothic art out there now \u2013 you\u2019ve got the traditional stuff, as well as the more futuristic cyberpunk\/cybergoth styles, manga-inspired art, the more comicky deathrock styles that have been inspired by skate-deck art and even pieces aimed at a much younger audience. The possibilities are endless and I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any danger in the genre being exhausted!<\/p>\n

\"2\"<\/a>More recently, there\u2019s been a return to punk methods of creating uneasy atmospheres through techniques like photocopying, graphics filters, lighting and other experimental approaches. The British graphic designer Vaughan Oliver is a whizz at this and he\u2019s still creating album art that\u2019s as haunting ashis \u201880s covers for dark bands like Cocteau Twins, Clan Of Xymox and Xmal Deutschland. I\u2019ve been seeing a lot more of this experimental side recently, especially with the really dramatic art nouveau-inspired illustrations that have been popping up on dark metal album covers.<\/p>\n

Q: The \u2018Goth\u2019 scene was at its zenith in the ’80s & ’90s. Has this survived, and if so, in what form and how do you see it evolving from here?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just survived, it\u2019s evolved! Nowadays, goth is more of an umbrella term for a number of dark alternative styles that range from what we might term as traditional goth through to Gothic Lolita and cybergoth. The music has changed as much as the fashion; there\u2019s more crossover between goth and other genres, such as metal, and there\u2019s more culture to consume too \u2013 from movies to comic books and computer games. Goth has gone from being a music scene to a subculture and now, it even influences the mainstream (although the mainstream usually misses the point!) Some might argue that goth has lost its identity but I think it\u2019s more a case of it gaining a new one and metamorphosing \u2013 you only need to look through the history books to see how successfully Gothic has done that over the last few centuries!<\/p>\n

There\u2019s definitely a trad goth revival happening right now, which has spiked new interest in classic goth music from the \u201880s and \u201890s, as well as post-punk. There\u2019s a whole new generation discovering goth for the first time and I find that so exciting. Every scene needs fresh blood to keep it going and goth is no exception. Fashion-wise, there\u2019s a very marked return to black lace and velvet, which pleases me no end as it\u2019s one of my favourite looks! In fact, the only real colour briefly came from Pastel Goth and the occasional jewel colour accents.<\/p>\n

How goth will evolve in the future is impossible to say but it\u2019s certainly not going to go away anytime soon! I don\u2019t think anyone could have predicted the cybergoth explosion of the late ’90s\/early ’00s or the deathrock revival that followed it. Even 10 years ago, no one could have imagined how popular steampunk or steamgoth would become \u2013 back then, it was just a literary genre but now there are festivals andconventions dedicated to it. Goth will continue evolve, in some shape or form, and it will continue to attract new followers who will reinterpret it and modernise it. And, no doubt, there will be elder goths who will maintain that this new reinterpretation isn\u2019t proper goth because that\u2019s what has happened all the way through history!<\/p>\n

\"1\"Q: If you could choose to nominate a \u2018gothic artist\u2019 hero, (as opposed to an \u2018artiste\u2019!), who would that be and what would\u00a0be your favourite piece of theirs?<\/strong><\/p>\n

That\u2019s probably one of the hardest questions I\u2019ve ever had to answer! Just as I met so many wonderful artists while creating this book, I also discovered so many wonderful pieces of art. Giger\u2019s work is incredible, I love Tim Burton\u2019s magnificent storyboards and cinematography, I\u2019m a massive fan of Alchemy\u2019s exquisite jewellery and Kris Kuksi\u2019s \u2018Unveiled Obscurity\u2019 sculpture is absolutely breath-taking \u2013 it\u2019s got so much detail it in and I was so happy he gave us permission to include it. Matthew Coulam\u2019s \u2018Ryk Shrine\u2019 is another piece that just mesmerised me when I first saw it \u2013 Matthew\u2019s home flooded while I was researching the book and for one awful moment, I thought the original oil painting had been damaged but fortunately, he managed to rescue all his artwork in time althoughhe lost all his sketch books. Another of my current favourites is the Italian design team Malleus, who were behind the hypnotic \u2018Dark Nouveau\u2019 poster \u2013 I discovered this piece shortly after I\u2019d returned from a trip to Prague and the incredible Mucha Museum. I think it\u2019s fair to say that Malleus were just inspired by the Czech artist as I was. Basically, I love everything that went into the book and could happily wax lyrical about every single piece!<\/p>\n

Also, although they didn\u2019t make the final book, Edvard Munch\u2019s \u2018Madonna\u2019 series and Richey Beckett\u2019s \u2018The Raven\u2019 are also among my favourites \u2013 I love the haunting atmospheres in their work, which is still very gothic but sensual at the same time.<\/p>\n

Some of the darker areas of Natasha\u2019s mind are probed in Part 2, next week\u2026<\/p>\n

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Natasha Scharf<\/strong>. The author of the books\u2018The Art of Gothic\u2019<\/a> (Omnibus Press\/Backbeat Books) and \u2018Worldwide Gothic\u2019 (Independent Music Press).<\/p>\n

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