It helps that, despite their distinct
characters, there is much to be found
in the midpoint of a Venn diagram of
their individual influences. Robert
Rauschenberg is one such figure.
“There was an exhibition two or
three years ago at Tate and we all
went,” says Caitlin. “I think we spent
15 minutes in the room with all of the
screenprints, just wondering how he
did all of that without a computer.”
Another key influence is Kate Gibb,
a printmaker famed for her album
covers for dance music act The
Chemical Brothers. Kate taught all
four members of Underway at the
University of Westminster so is,
according to Anna, “the reason
why we’re here in the first place.”
“She made you look at screen
printing in a totally different way,”
Anna adds. “Before it was always
about registering everything really
crisply whereas Kate said just print it,
spin it around, print it upside down...
That kind of showed you how you
could be really free with everything.”
Kate proved influential for the
quartet after graduation too, helping
them with equipment and internships,
as well as inviting them to visit her
own Paddington studio. “After that we
thought, ‘Ok, this is really achievable,
we can do this,’” says Melissa.
After successful appearances at
London Illustration Fair, Underway
Studio held its first collective show
at Studio 73 in September 2018.
They put added pressure on
themselves, however, by agreeing to
show all new work. “It was too much,”
says Caitlin. “We did 11 screen prints
in two months, it was crazy.”
The pressure resulted in some of
the collective’s most popular prints,
the Printed Spaces series featuring
much-loved London architecture,
from the Barbican to Battersea PowerOur tutor Kate Gibb made
us look at screen printing
in a totally different way
TOPLEFTBrutal
FormsII,screen
print,29.7x42cmABOVEPastprints
ontheBrixton
studiowallsStation. The exhibition might have
turned out very differently if it wasn’t
for another intervention from Kate
Gibb who encouraged them to drop
the grey-and-yellow colour schemes in
favour of something far more vibrant.
“She does have a point,” says Caitlin.
“People do like colour.”
http://www.underwaystudio.com