Bianca Roland’s otherworldly works pull us in.
Childlike wonder — that’s the sense artist Bianca Roland hopes to inspire in others through her mixed-media art. A self-described “psychedelic maximalist,” Roland pieces together supernatural scenes of vivid colors and varied textures, mostly drawing from her ever-growing collection of upcycled materials. Her three-dimensional art makes viewers look twice, with their eyes darting from one curious element to the next. Her art can be seen at Factory Obscura, but we took a closer look at Roland’s fantastical works to learn the how and why behind her lively landscapes.
What inspires your creativity?
I love color. A lot of my inspiration comes from visions of places like Wonderland, Oz. If you’ve ever seen the original 1970s Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, that scene where they walk into the room where everything is edible — those kinds of environments. I also like densely packed organic environments like coral reefs and rainforests, where there’s a lot of diversity and shapes and colors.
Describe your art.
My work is mixed media, which is kind of a vague description, but I am not the kind of artist that does just one thing. I’m doing three things. Primarily, right now, one are pieces that are a combination of foam clay, beads and found objects, mostly plastic. The second one is the wall hangings, which are recycled canvas, ribbon, yarn and dangly bits, for lack of a better word. And then a medium that I have just started working in is abstract embroidery: needle-felted, beads. So many components go into my pieces, it’s kind of hard to describe them simply.
Where do you source up-cycled materials?
You know the Goodwill Outlet that’s on Reno Avenue? I love to go down there and just grab handfuls of little bitty plastic bits. At regular thrift stores, I will go and I’ll find jewelry, I’ll deconstruct it and I’ll use the beads.
You were previously a painter, only entering mixed-media art a year and a half ago. How did that happen?
As a painter, I was having trouble executing the visions that I had. So, I have a friend named Marisa Saylor; she’s an artist working out of Los Angeles. She’s absolutely an influence on my own work. I started corresponding with her and asked her about her materials. I picked up some of this foam clay, started playing with it — and it just immediately took off. I was like, “Yes, I can absolutely execute my vision with this,” and it’s just been a speeding train ever since.
Where would you like to go with your work?
I would really like the opportunity to do much, much larger things. I would like to do installation work. I’m really itching to do large pieces … like in corporate settings or store windows or — I don’t know, like I’m completely open — but I want to work big.
Why is that?
I want to see if I can do it, and I know I can. Every time I tackle a new medium, there’s always a period of time when what I’m making looks terrible, but it doesn’t take long for me to figure out how to use stuff and make it look awesome. And, honestly, I just want to see what my limits are.
