Interview with Elmer Ramos
Although every one of us is unique and has a specific visual voice, Elmer’s work is truly unlike anything we’ve seen in Square Carousel previously. His exploration into the middle-ground between representational and nonrepresentational art carries a lot of power, via very strong uses of color and shape. We can’t wait to see how he incorporates this experiment into his visual-problem-solving for Square Carousel. Keep reading for more of Elmer’s thought-provoking answers.
Q: I love that your work is often open to interpretation, ambiguous, yet somewhat narrative, Elmer. How did you evolve into this style of art, when those concepts are often conflicting?
 A: As an illustrator I love telling stories, the more eccentric they are, the more unpredictable they become. During my transition from working strictly with ink and graphite to color monotypes and collage, my process on developing a narrative became more ambiguous. I discovered that by giving a shape some resemblance to a known-object while still keeping them a mystery, allowed for the viewer to wonder what it is or what the story is about. Think of it as a Rorschach test, testing your personality and emotional connections to what you see or what you think you see.
Q: Tell us about how your work bridges the gap between representational and nonrepresentational.
 A: I am interested in the idea of one thing seeming or becoming another. I like to get my ideas from looking at coffee stains, clouds and abstract paintings. As I mentioned previously, like a Rorschach test. I get to examine my personality and emotional relationship to a particular idea or subject. When creating narrative work, I like to give the viewer a hint of what might be happening by using a representational shape but I also leave parts open for interpretation which are the non-representational parts. I look at Kara Walker’s silhouette work often, because she can take a large white wall and create an entirely new story by just using the same silhouettes and shapes. You should definitely look at her work. The idea of working representational and nonrepresentational is just another way for me to be able to walk the line between fine art and illustration. In illustration you want to communicate the visual message immediately and in fine art you want to hold the viewer a bit longer, to have them wander into the painting.
“Collage Narrative Representationals and Nonrepresentational”
Q: Explain your process, from start to finish.
Step 1: Color Mixing
I start off my pieces by selecting a group of colors that work well together. I often consider the magic 3’s, the dominant colors, subdominant colors and the subordinate, or as others refer to as the shadows, midtones and highlights. I use Johannes Itten’s Contrast of Extension when I am developing the palate. This is also considered when I am creating my compositions in order to maintain a balanced and harmonious composition.
Elmer’s drying monotypes, in progress
Step 2: Monotype Printing
Once the colors are mixed, I use a large printmaking roller to create the color gradients that are going to be printed on eastern paper. These are the monotypes. Â Once I am done printing them they are placed to dry for 2 days.Â
Elmer’s rice-pasted monotypes, in progress
Step 3: Rice Paste
After the oil based ink has dried for about two days they get two coats of rice paste in the back and are laid out flat on a large sheet of plexi and left to dry for an hour. I usually have multiple sheets going at once to make the best of the time creating an inventory of colors.
The shape-cutting stage, in progress
Step 4: Compositions
During the composition stage this is when I slow down a bit and start thinking about what I am creating and what is the message I am going for, or who I am creating for. The nice part about creating collaged compositions is that nothing is set-in until I know the compositions are done. I usually work on multiple works at the same time in order to be more efficient with my time.Â
Shapes, waiting to be placed
Step 5: Mounting
Once the compositions are ready and all the shapes have been carefully cut out, I soak the substrate that the cut-outs are gonna go on, usually western printmaking paper. Paper soaks for no less than 5 minutes the paper is pulled from the soaking tub, blotted, laid on the press, lay-out all of my cut out collage pieces creating my composition, and run it through an etching press. The etching press joins the monotype cut-out with the western sheet. The water from the western paper activated the glue on the eastern paper, making them adhered to one another. They then sit to dry for another day using a stack of davey boards to remove moisture from the soaked paper.
Q: What would be your ideal application of this work, within a career?
A: I believe that the collaged pieces lend themselves pretty nicely to advertising and editorial work and that’s where I want to continue heading.
I am a big fan of the New Yorker’s spot illustrations and that’s another thing that I would love to do is somehow create just spot illustrations using my collage pieces. But I also have a passion for creating logos and vector work which is funny because vector and collage work, as you know, have sharp edges. I like the clean sharp look, that’s the reason why I don’t print directly onto the printmaking paper. I like to mount because printing will still give you a fuzzy edge, it’s very minimal but I am very uncompromising about what I do and so that’s why I think collaging gives me that nice sharp edge that I wouldn’t be able to get with anything else.
Q: What is your favorite project to have ever completed, and why?
A: I have no idea to be honest… I remember two projects way back before the my transition to collage work. They were both for local businesses. One was for Foxy Loxy Print Gallery and Cafe and the other was for Perc Coffee Roasters in Savannah. I don’t become emotionally attached to my work. It’s a business. My biggest reward is having people react to the work in some way. Sometimes, I see people wearing a shirt I designed downtown and that is when I become emotional. Hahaha.
Q: You also have a fantastic sense of color and gradients within your portfolio. Do you derive that palette from any specific inspiration?
A: I do have a good idea of what color schemes work well together, I like to follow Johannes Itten’s color theory on color contrast. After learning about Itten’s theory I discovered that the colors I tend to choose, refer to the Contrast by Extension color palate. In this color palate you are trying to maintain a good balance of colors to achieve harmony. You should check his theories out as well. I also studied much of Hans Hoffman’s color theory on the push and pull using color. I also spend a lot of time mixing colors back when I worked in a commercial printing studio. Clients always want that seafoam green that no one ever makes. It always has to be mixed. Arrrgg.. I am also inspired by color blends that are found in nature such as sunrises, sunsets, and stormy afternoons, or just color blends from a field at a distance, i believe we relate to them easier. Another approach is, what I call, the nursery color scheme. Which pretty much means that, I like to mix colors that you would find in a newborn’s nursery. That’s another thing, I love kids and it is amazing how their imagination has no limitations. I usually say a kids imagination has no gravity, anything is possible. If you are ever having a creative block, sit with a 5 year old and come up with a story with them.
“Garibaldi’s Cemetery”
Q: Who are your greatest influences?
A: I would say that my greatest influence comes from Julien Pacaud, a French illustrator who does digital collage work and uses really beautiful gradients in his work. I just can’t get enough of his work! He is the artist I have been following for such a long time and still continue to be intrigued by his work. He creates atmospheric perspectives and somehow has a way of playing with scale to the point where it makes sense somehow. I would say this is the direction, I want my work to go. I also look at Kara Walker’s work for the erratic narrative pieces arranged in a certain way that provides multiple representations or non- representational narratives. I am a fan of vector art and logo designs, so I look at Aaron Draplin, from Draplin Design Co, when I am doing more design type of work.
Q: If you had to choose between always saying what’s on your mind, and never being able to speak again, which would you pick, and why?
A: I would say that I would choose to never being able to speak again, because I often think about how I’d much rather spend my time expressing my thoughts through my work instead of talking about it. Sometimes when I try to talk and explain my work to someone, the right words won’t come out, so I end up leaving them with a misconception of what my work is about. I also get in trouble when I open my mouth. hahaha. I am bilingual, my first language is Spanish, and sometimes words are just jumbled up in both languages that I have to find another way to explain what I am trying to say. That’s probably why I am an Illustrator.
Elmer’s workspaceÂ
Q: What’s your favorite food?
A:  My favorite food is anything I don’t have to cook. I just love to eat. I would say my guilty pleasure is eating out, burgers, asian fusion, and pizza. Luckily I have a partner that is an amazing cook and loves to cook. So I tend to eat pretty healthy most of the time. But every now and then I treat myself.
Q: Tell us your biggest quirk, while working.
A: My biggest quirk, is having a clean and big table to work on. If I don’t have enough space to lay out my paper to create the compositions, I cannot make work. Sometimes I end up spending more time cleaning than creating. I also prefer working in large spaces, and if I don’t have a large table, I just lay out rolls of newsprint on the floor and lay my prints out that way and create my compositions that way. I have this crazy idea in my head that if the space I work in is bigger, bigger ideas will come.Â
Elmer, enjoying springtime
Q: Anything else you would like the readers to know?
A:  The road to being an artist is never-ending, and when you think you’ve figured everything out, more things pop-up. The fun part of it all is the journey of creating and discovering new things. I always think that I’m going to be set on a specific “style” or medium but I just love everything and I am influenced by everything so much. At any point anything can change and switch, so it’s okay to like everything and not try to hold yourself down to just one style although for marketing purposes it’s really good to just have one style. Always take advice with a grain of salt because no one knows what is going in inside your head other than you.Â
Can’t get enough? Check out Elmer’s portfolio website here.
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