Digital Surrealism by Catrin Welz-Stein: touching and exquisitely gloomy

Designer Catrin Welz-Stein comes from Germany. She now lives in Switzerland and books, postcards, music albums, posters and even pillows decorated with her digital drawings can be found all over the world.

She began creating digital collages using old photographs and illustrations in 2009. She has also experimented with oil painting. But when she learned about Photoshop and other digital possibilities, she felt that traditional means were limiting her. At the same time, Catherine understood that her greatest passion for art is surrealism, and it is very convenient to fantasize without limiting herself with the help of computer graphics programs.

The artist worked in advertising agencies in the U.S., Germany, and Switzerland, but her popularity came to her through the Internet: the guests of the FB-page Katrine liked her fantasies girlish touching and at the same time elegantly dark. When you admire the roses and birds on Catherine’s illustrations of Welz-Stein, you will certainly remember Dali and Bosch.

Catherine is, in fact, a housewife: her two children distract her from her art exercises behind the monitor every now and then. She believes that motherhood has influenced her style: “As a mother, I have become much more emotional and sensitive, and this is reflected in my art. My illustrations now tell stories, talk to the viewer. I cannot create abstract works that are devoid of emotion”.

The artist describes her creative process as follows: “Most of my work is a search for images, illustrations, photographs, which have already expired. Old books, magazines, the Internet are my resources. When I find a suitable image, I tear it to pieces and then combine it back together, mixing it with other images. I transform, connect, retouch the parts until the original image is unrecognizable and there is a whole new twist.

And when asked about her sources of inspiration, Catherine answers: “Surrealism, fairytales, folklore, the Middle Ages and Art Nouveau”.