MFA Visual Narrative and RisoLAB staff member, Sarula Bao, illustrated the New Yorker cover for March 27th, 2023, the annual Spring Style & Design issue. The piece is titled ‘Fresh Gear’ and it captures Sarula’s love of fashion and design. The elements of the outfit on her figure include aspects of fashion that inspire her such as transparent sleeves and bows. The figure appears to jump in the air, showing off her gorgeous, textured sneakers in the foreground. The image definitely stands out on the magazine shelf.
The New Yorker interviewed Sarula to get the background for the cover. We enjoyed the entire interview, but this part stood out to all of us around the MFAVN/RisoLAB offices was this:
When working on this piece, you produced a Riso print, a kind of screen printing made digitally, at the School of Visual Art’s RisoLAB. What’s so special about this technique, and why did you choose it?
I think that Riso is a really cool, really beautiful tool, because it combines the easy accessibility of what is essentially a copy machine with the quality of traditional printmaking, in an affordable way. Each color goes on individually, one at a time, and as a result you can experiment with three-, four-, or even five-color prints, mixing color on paper. When used as an art-making process, it creates that handmade quality: the grainy texture, the misalignments, the trademarks of traditional printmaking. And it’s so fast. It aligns with a lot of the things I care about when I’m making art.
Read Sarula’s interview with The New Yorker here.
Sarula announced the news to the world on Twitter and Instagram:
very very excited to bring the first RISO PRINTED cover to the new yorker @NewYorker !!!! 🌟🌟 i will be selling limited edition prints of the cover with 50% of the proceeds donated to Black trans individuals in need of mutual aid or gender affirming surgery! pic.twitter.com/zGI8HVoThd
— Sarula Bao 🌟小宝 (@bao__haus) March 20, 2023
The New Yorker also created a video for a peek behind-the-scenes.
(If the video does not run, click this link to open it in a new tab)
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Visit Sarula’s website for more of her work.
You can follow Sarula’s Instagram account to get the latest news from this exciting emerging artist.
Again, congratulations, Sarula!