Masterclass - Carlo Stanga
Print Club Torino hosted Mattias Adolfsson's Masterclass “The Devil is in the details”, an intensive course on imagination through details, improvisation and risograph printing.
The artist
Mattias Adolfsson lives near Stockholm and has a master's degree in Graphic Design. After extensive experience in 3D modelling and video games, he has been working as an illustrator since 2007, combining technical precision, irony and imagination in his approach. His work, characterised by rich detail and bizarre creatures, is internationally acclaimed and has been published in major publications and projects such as The New Yorker, Google and Dreamworks.
Unconsciousness, improvisation and visual expression
The masterclass offered a glimpse into the unique universe of Mattias Adolfsson, an illustrator known for his ability to combine technical rigour and irony in drawings rich in surprising details. An open and spontaneous approach was explored, giving rise to an illustrated universe populated by impossible objects, bizarre architecture and surprising creatures. The workshop explored how leaving room for the unconscious and improvisation can unleash new forms of expression, transforming drawing into an exercise in freedom and discovery.
Building the absurd, one stroke at a time
During the practical course, participants had the opportunity to let themselves be guided by their instincts and explore visual complexity, starting with simple shapes and then developing increasingly complex and detailed structures. Each participant was able to give shape to their personal imagination, combining real and invented elements in a game of visual references and unexpected surprises. Drawing was the medium used to explore the possibility of recounting paradox and absurdity, giving life to compositions that, while escaping conventional logic, were coherent, vibrant and full of expressive energy.
An atlas of imagination
In the final stage, the illustrations were selected and refined with the help of the workshop tutors. The matrices created for each subject allowed each drawing to be transformed into a risograph print, a technique that enhanced textures, details and overlays, resulting from a free and non-linear creative process. The final result was a self-produced visual collection, brought together in a collective display: a small illustrated atlas of the absurd and the possible, born from the encounter between invention, irony and attention to detail.
