Jealous:

Can you tell us a little about the title of the exhibition ‘The Lost Domain’? Is there any lore behind this?

Stanley Donwood:

'The Lost Domain' or 'Le Grand Meaulnes' is the title of the only book by Alain-Fournier, who was killed during the first month of the First World War. It is a strange novel and I only half remember it. I think its about longing, about unrequited desire, about the hopelessness of longing for the unobtainable.

Jealous:

You’re known for your traditional mark making techniques – We want to know how you made your newest screenprint ‘SOL’ – did this start life as a woodcut? How did you find the process of converting this image into a 10 colour screenprint?

Stanley Donwood:

I carved it with a little chisel, but it wasn't a woodcut, it was a linocut. Lino is much easier to cut and much quicker. I am a very lazy person so this suits me very well. To convert it into a screen print I inked the cut lino with a roller and some black ink, and then printed it onto some paper using a massive cast iron 1800s Albion press, then waited for the ink to dry, and then had the print digitally photographed, then took the digital file into Photoshop and cleaned it up a bit (but not too much), then added all of the colours (which added up to ten layers), and then output each colour layer onto clear film, and then exposed photographic emulsion that had been used to coat ten screens with the relevant colour layer and then printed the edition. There were some other stages but I expect you are now as bored as I am. 

Above - shots from the Jealous studio

Jealous:

You’ve worked with the Jealous Print Studio a number of times now. Have you got a favourite project you’ve worked on with our team?

Stanley Donwood:

Tricky question. I think I liked painting Rattus Rattus on the roof last September the best. Although it could equally be eating the tiramisu that Dario made. A very tricky question indeed.

Jealous:

A lot of people may know you for your work with Radiohead, Thom Yorke and Glastonbury festival. How strongly does music relate to your artwork?

Stanley Donwood:

I listen to music most of the time when I'm working; well, when I'm not listening to depressing documentaries on the radio. But I'm not a musical person. Thom Yorke claims that I'm 'tone deaf', whatever that means.

Jealous:

Speaking of music, what are you listening to at the moment?

Stanley Donwood:

Les Metamorphoses du Vide by Chapelier Fou.

Jealous:

A lot of your work references landscapes and places in nature. Do you visit these places for reference material or are they imagined?

Stanley Donwood:

Well, I don't visit particular places on purpose, but I do wander around a lot. I can't drive, so I never have to 'watch the road'. That must be really boring. So I look out of train windows and bus windows, and I walk a lot. And ride a bike. So I see a lot of stuff, and I remember a lot of it because, I guess, I have time to properly look. I draw a lot of landscapes just for something to do. I don't really watch TV because it's either bollocks or just goes on for ages, so I have quite a lot of time to draw. I imagine a lot of places too. Most of the places I paint are partly invented. But not all. You'll have to figure out which is which, maybe.

Stanley Donwood signing his newest screenprint 'Sol', made in the Jealous print studio