Allie Webb

Sydney based artist Allie Webb is widely celebrated for her unique approach to traditional artmaking, treating timeless subjects to graphic representation. Her established practice has informed the aesthetic identities of countless culinary establishments across the city, as she continues to consult for hospitality group Swillhouse. Naturally then, her lively scenes tend to be set around a dining table, an altar of routine and ritual—charged with social and structural value. 

The artist has found great inspiration in the experiments of the Cubists, painters once keen to deconstruct the very object of looking by any means necessary. Her works too distil elements to their most basic forms, relying often on a mere silhouette to generate pictorial interest in her prints and drawings. These resulting tableaux celebrate the character of their subjects, whether a meal, conversation or streetscape and conjure the particular essence of a moment in time rather than its minor details. Webb’s obsession with the culture of dining out is made tangible in every bustling composition.

Tell us about your creative process, what drives your practice?

I work with memory, feeling and direct observation. I’m most interested in dining culture and the many rituals associated with it.

When I start a new work, it might be a memory of something that happened the night before at dinner or years ago. I make sure I have a sketch book with me most of the time to make thumbnails of ideas. Most of the time I set up a still life and use that as the base to an image. 

After I’ve got loose sketches, I’ll draw it to size with graphite, eliminating details to make a stronger impression with the relief. Then I’ll transfer this to the lino block where I’ll amend the details again. Then I find a good audio book or podcast and spend a couple of days cutting out the work for print. With the larger works that are around 100 cm and over. I’ll take these blocks to a master printmaker who can align the paper and do all the fiddly printing. I hate the actual printing part! That’s an art in itself.

I usually make a small run of prints, rarely over 8 editions.

Your works construct engaging tableaux and still lives with flattened perspectives and contrasting textures. How do you approach constructing images or scenes through relief printing?

One of the main reasons I love relief is how bold you can make a work with all the interesting shapes. I love inverting shapes within shapes to create movement and tension. I'm most excited by creating shapes that keeps your eyes moving. I'll do a bunch of thumbnails thinking only about the large shapes that hold the design together.

What is the significance of the dinner table as an altar of routine and ritual within your practice? 

I love dining out, I love everything about it, it's a never ending pool of ideas. I could never get bored of making still lives around food and vessels, people eating, sitting. There are so many exciting moments in a restaurant. The way a lobster sits on a tray, a hand on a napkin, an icy jug filled with cheap wine accompanied by a plate of olives and nuts, little crescent moons of lemons with your oysters. Even the tangle of legs and arms at a table. I could go on!

Are there any female printmakers | artists that influence you?

I don't really look at other printmakers, I look at painters. I know I mainly create linocuts but I never think of myself as a printmaker... Maybe because I loathe the printing process. I love the design and carving. 

I used to look at Christina Ramberg - she is so elegant but has a great goofiness to her work. My favourite female painter is Paula Modersohn Becker.

I recently discovered Cressida Campbell who is a printmaker and a painter. Her work is so detailed, very inspiring. 

Finally, what exciting projects are you working on at the moment?

At the moment I've been focusing on painting. I love it so much, I just find the medium a little more challenging, using colour and how it's so open-ended. I like how relief works, you have to stop at a certain point.

I'm working with my husband and his company Swillhouse to open two new restaurants in Sydney. In one of them, probably to be called The Caterpillar Club I'm creating one giant mural that covers the entire venue, using the ideas behind Roman wall painting.

We have also started a magazine called Swill which is all about stories surrounding restaurants. I do the art direction, linocut cover and styling for recipe shoots which I am loving.