Sometimes art just attracts you like a magnet. And at the first moment, you are not sure which part you like the most. It keeps your attention and evokes in you the desire to know more, to explore, and learn. In our sky better known as the world wide web, we encounter a lot of artists. This one intrigued us. We wanted to hear more from the person behind these stunning pieces.
And her art seems spiky. Her designs make you think about the standards of beauty. The connection with her was so unlike those feelings. Have you ever met someone so charismatic that everything around him becomes the most beautiful thing on earth? That's the feeling we got after talking with the amazing Molly Melican, a young artist from Australia. She is better known under her artistic name Ginklet at her Instagram account.
Where are you from? And how would you describe your background?
What are the main events in your life that influenced the art that you are creating now?
While my art does intrinsically carry too much ‘meaning’, there are certainly reasons I make what I make. I can get quite easily bored with ‘perfect’ and ‘beautiful’ things, and have always been much more drawn to imperfection and ‘ugliness’, because it feels much more real and relatable to me. The sculptures I make are not pretty. They usually have huge noses, bulging eyes, drooping skin and almost always have a bone gracing their heads. My artistic influence is largely down to seeing much more beauty in imperfection than anything striving to look perfect.
What gives you the most joy and what's the best thing about being an artist?
When you start creating your art piece, do you have the whole picture in mind, from the scratch till the end? And how do you enhance your creative thinking?
A lot of people ask me how I think up so many of the monsters and creatures I draw and sculpt, but the truth is I don’t really think them up at the start. I begin with an idea about how I might like the nose to look, and once that is complete, I create eyes that would compliment the nose I now have in front of me and so on. I sometimes feel like the sculptures take on features and characterizes of their own volition completely, and I am just an observer watching it unfold.
What has enhanced my creative thinking the most is committing to a creative practice every single day. The more you allow yourself to make mistakes and start again without ridiculing yourself, the more you allow yourself to see what you’re capable of; accepting that there will be many mistakes along the way.
What is the best part when creating ceramics and drawings? What work do you most enjoy doing?
The best part about creating ceramics is the feeling that I have created a physical, 3D creature that can also happen to hold your hot drinks sometimes. If you viewed any of my videos on Ginklet, you would be able to tell that I grow quite attached to my sculptures. They become like old buddies that literally watch me sleep. Ceramics is also great because there are so many processes between beginning and finishing a piece. And as for drawing, I just couldn’t live without drawing.
How would you describe your art to our readers? And what is the main emotion you would like to send through your art?
I would describe my art as a cohort of ugly, colorful heads that look just GREAT on a mantelpiece. In saying that, I would also describe my art as sometimes very cute and animated heads (these also look great on a mantelpiece). Cuteness to ugliness ratio varies day to day. The main emotion I’d love to elicit from my art is just a sense of fun and humor. Things can get a bit serious and depressing out there. Even the art world itself can get a bit too serious. A sense of fun and silliness in one's life is completely and utterly vital I think.
Is it hard for you to part with your art pieces? Describe to us how it feels to you when you see your art in new homes?
Absolutely. As I mentioned, my sculptures become like friends to me, and sometimes I feel like I’m going through a breakup. Part of this can probably be explained by the fact that ceramics is in its very nature extremely labor intensive. So, so much work goes into ceramics, and there are many steps involved, and so much room for error. I believe this also makes it very hard for me to break up with my sculptures. But as long as they know it’s not them, it’s me. Whenever I see my art in a new home, it often makes me think of my late Mum, who passed away when I was 12. I know she would be beaming with happiness if she could see all the stupid, ugly, gross heads sitting in people's homes.
In the world of generalization. In the world of massive brands. In the world that wrote many unhealthy beauty standards - Ginklet is a shining star.
Seeing beauty in every day. Seeing beauty in different shapes and colors. Seeing beauty beyond the given standards. Moving the standards and expanding the views. The healthy attitude towards the world we are all living in.
The FOURLINEdesign team would like to thank Molly Melican for sharing inspiring thoughts with our community.