Francisco Abril and Nuria Velasco are Welder Wings—a digital artist duo who blend collage, illustration and paint while marrying mystical works and styles to create mind-bending gothic, surreal masterpieces.
The couple’s love of creating strange characters and imaginary worlds led them to pursue art, but they never imagined their work would expand beyond a simple hobby to escape the routine of their everyday life in Spain, but Welder Wings’ work quickly gained momentum and caught the attention of Tool guitarist, Adam Jones, who featured their art on numerous limited edition concert posters sold throughout the band’s 2023-2024 world tour.
Their art has also been featured on book covers, candles and more.
I chose a small assortment of my favorite works from Welder Wings to highlight as they share a little about the creative process behind their work and feelings on “The Origin of the Strange” piece used for The Nine Muses collab:
“Our classic technique is digital collage, which we create in layers. We take elements from old public domain paintings, catalogs, magazines, etc. and we paint on each one of them.
To us it’s about creating a mosaic of many pieces until the artwork is finished and the final set should look like a painting, without seams. The “welds” we have made (hence the name, Welder Wings) should not be visible at all in the work.
It’s also a trial-and-error process that can take a long time and is often very tedious and boring, which is why we never show videos of how we create. Trust us, it wouldn’t be interesting to watch.
Finally, regarding “The Origin of the Strange” and our intentions and inspirations—the truth is, we feel both of these are quite irrelevant. Of course a snail “means something”, but for you it may mean something totally different than for me. What matters most are the meanings that others give to this piece, or any of our artworks. In our art, our opinion shouldn’t prevail.”
All The Nine Muses decks come with a hand numbered artist bio postcard signed by Welder Wings. Only 135 boards were made. The Nine Muses is honored to collaborate with Welder Wings for its inaugural offering, showcasing a piece entitled “The Origin of the Strange”.
