Andrea Gomis, is a Catalan American artist based in London. Her sculptures harken back to traditions of the erotic and grotesque while exploring human anatomy and sexuality. Growing up between Catalunya and Colorado, her work incorporates the aggressive subtexts of American life and the surrealist nature of Catalan culture. While many of her pieces are explicit, they always include a more innocent side– the sculpture turned in a certain direction displays the grotesque, while turned in another can offer a seemingly innocent object, thus playing with the idea of how we protect and conceal vulnerabilities, truths, and realities from ourselves and others. As she often says, “you never completely wear your heart on your sleeve.” She has worked in studios making prosthetics for films such as “The Orville” and with the team that created Pan’s Labyrinth. She studied at Central Saint Martins College in London and completed trainings in Special Effects, Prosthetics, and Creature Maquette among others at the Cinema Makeup School in Los Angeles.
Hi Andrea! Thank you for sitting down with me. Growing up between Catalunya and Colorado. What’s the story there?
Growing up half Catalan, from Barcelona, and half American, from Boulder, I’d move a lot. My views were always from an outsiders prospective. Catalunya being oppressed and surreal while America being violent and delusional, these themes are definitely present in my work.
So what brought you to London?
I originally moved to London at age 16 to “Get The London Look”, advertised by Maybelline. I moved to Camden into a room, originally for refuges but empty, in a house with two old hippies and runaway Hasidic Jew, where I finished my A levels.
I’m curious. Can you tell me a little bit about your brand Deadratlove69. Like how did you come up with the name etc..?
Deadratlove69, was my username on Silk Road, an online black market place. You could buy literally anything illegal on it. It was my birthday at the time and I had been gifted rats but my roommate had accidentally squashed one under the sofa while I was out of town. He kept it in the freezer so I could taxidermy it when I got home, which I did.
Can you talk to me a little bit about how you got started with ceramics and why it’s your preferred medium of expressing yourself?
I started making ceramics over Covid. I was working as a SFX makeup artist and my career was takin a hit. I had to move in with my sister in Colorado where we were locked up in the mountains. Scared, anxious and so friggin horny. I started hitting on a crackhead at Walmart who looked like Tarzan with no shoes and sexy ripped clothes and then it hit me, I needed a hobby or rehab was lookin like the next stop. Lucky my mama is a ceramicist and had a studio I could work in. She taught me the basics and encouraged I make sweet things, but that was never my style. To avoid what I really wanted, heavy drug use and sex with deadbeats, my sculptures became my therapy. My aggression, frustration and trauma is what I unload into them. I still sign all my piece “Patandy loves you”, because Andy Patandy is what my family calls me and all my pieces start as presents to my sister.
What’s your motivation and who do you look up to?
As for influences my grandpa John’s work taught me free expression, he also makes erotic sculptures with a big focus on animal passion, they are amazing!
How would you describe a perfect day?
A perfect day for me… It would be my birthday, birthday sex. I’d go to the studio, open the kiln and my best creation would come out. I’d then go swim naked in the sea, come out lookin smokin hot and be thrown a surprise birthday party where all my food allergies would disappear and I’d have a Nutella sandwich with my entire family and friends. Then I’d get fucked in every sense of the word.
Oh and here is some more about my vomiting self portraits and allergies
I have really bad allergies to eggs, gluten and dairy. I get hives, my face swells and I start projectile vomiting. All my self portraits are always vomiting. I look at myself in the mirror most when I feel awful. I spent two years vomiting everyday not knowing what was wrong with me, I’m not sure if I trashed my body when I was younger or if I was always meant to be allergic. Some people see vomiting as disgusting but I’m so desensitised I pride myself on aim and accuracy. Using ceramics to create a vomiting person gives it beauty and makes it seem delicate and elegant. Its something we can all relate to, being a feeling or an action.
Alright Andrea. I always ask these two questions at the end of an interview. The first is. What’s your favorite movie(s) and why?
My favourite movies are all directed by Tim Burton from the 80s and 90s. Not only his movies but his artwork has inspired me throughout my life. He’s got such a beautifully dark distinctive style. I have a fancy book of his sketches, not to flex too hard but yea. I look up to him so much. I even named my cats after characters in his movies.
The second is. What song(s) are you currently listening to the most right now?
I listen to everything under the sun, but I recently went to a Machine Gun Kelly concert and now he’s all I can listen to. I live in his band shirt. Im also a big fan of The Cure, I just love listening to sad music when I’m alone.
