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Illustration Residency Interviews

The Illustration Residency is a 3-month residency starring artists Alice Skinner, Luz Dager, Anna Marcelo and Rosa Chang. These artists were picked by a jury of:

Ian Bertram, an American comic book artist and SVA graduate who has been published by D.C. Comics, Marvel and Dark Horse. Ian is a long-time Con Artist Collective collaborator and has had solo shows at our sister gallery Lazy Susan Gallery, and the Barefoot Gallery in Colombo, Sri Lanka as part of a Hot Butter Collective artist residency.

Victor Ocoa, an artist from Brooklyn, and studied Fine Art at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City. After graduating he established a career as a graphic designer for companies such as Scholastic, HarperCollins, and Marvel Entertainment. He is the founder of the independent comic publisher DRAWMORE INC., where he worked with artists from around the world creating original sequential art. He is currently an Art Director for Crunchyroll in San Francisco, California.

Richard Miller has over 20 years experience as an illustrator and fine artist. He graduated from the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon Graphics in 1994 and was recruited by DC Comics, where he worked on producing comic books including Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman. His expertise includes illustration, toy design, and animation.

Interviews

Alice Skinner

Alice Skinner is a 25 year old artist originating from London. She comes from London and is currently based London and New York City. She earned her BA with honors in Illustration and Visual Media at the London College of Communication. Her work often touches on topics like gender, sexism, and sexuality.

A bunch of your works are inspired by Pablo Picasso, when did you start doing this and why?

So I wrote my thesis for the last year of my degree on the gender gap in art and out of like the top ten most expensive works of art in the world, like 6 of them are Picasso. And for me, it was all about depictions of women are worth so much money but then work created by them is not. So I just wanted to start taking recognizable images and giving these women narratives, and modernize them for our generation. And also, the meme captions are there because the young people need relatability so they can see themselves in popular culture and in art. Where as I feel like for many many years art is very elitist. I’m just trying to change that.

As a high school student, I’ve noticed that the arts are in my opinion, unappreciated. Do you fear that such revered artists will eventually be forgotten by the youth?

Yeah, and I think it’s important that even if we disagree with the person - as a person I hate Picasso, he was a sexist, racist, horrible man - but he still paved the way in art. I don’t really like classical art and that’s why it was interesting doing this project because it gave me a new appreciation of how we’re here. But sort of changing it and veering it in it’s own direction.

You said the depiction of women is very popular and sells well but the art that women create isn’t. How do you think that can change and do you think it’s already changing?

I do think it’s changing. Instagram is like one of the biggest tool for female artists right now. I’m also in an exhibition in London this week that is all about women who have furthered their careers with just Instagram. I think because we’re taking it outside of the gallery, and not just women but all minorities are having more of a chance at being able to be artists because the way we are consuming our art is changing. I think it’s the best time so far for women and minorities to come through.

In one of the pieces you’re showcasing, the caption is “How I sleep at night knowing that strange men on the internet hate me for existing.” What kind of hate have you been receiving? And how frequent is this hate?

It comes in bursts. It was very overwhelming after the women’s march. A piece of mine, which I completely stand by, said white silence equals white consent and a lot of white people, especially men, did not like this. I had like 4 days of being trolled by the alt-right and nazis. [They were saying] I shouldn’t be able to live, I shouldn’t be able to procreate, n-word lover, all of these crazy things. That was the big incident but it does happen quite regularly, I’ll just get some man in my inbox telling me how awful I am and sexist doesn’t exist and all of that crap.

Does it ever scare you?

Yeah, when the women’s march happened it was real bloody intense. I got like 700 new followers in a day and then like 700 haters and my phone [was going crazy]. They found my twitter as well and it was everything to “you shouldn’t be able to procreate” to just “eat shit.” I can find the humor in these things because these people are just close-minded ignorant fools.

You said it scares you, but does it also excite you?

I was with my mom when it happened - we don’t live together so it was quite rare that we were together - she was getting excited because she said “isn’t this what artists try to do their whole lives? To start a conversation, and you’ve started a conversation, cause like - some of it’s good and some of its bad, but people are talking.”

Luz Rodriguez Dager

Luz Dager is a 27 year old artist originating from Ecuador. She is based in Ecuador but comes to New York often. She earned her Bachelors in Graphic Design and Visual Communication at the Universidad Casa Grande in Ecuador. Her work often touches on female empowerment, and body positivity.

I’ve noticed that many of your works have been on the topic of body positivity, has body positivity been an issue for you growing up?

Yeah, I wasn’t the skinny girl in my college. So it was hard because I always wanted to be more skinny, more pretty, I always wanted to have straight hair because I have curly hair and all those kind of things [made it a] really hard time. So yes that is part of what I’m doing right now. It’s not the whole thing but it’s a really big part of it. Also I realize little girls like my cousins and the daughters of some of my friends who are 5 and 6 years old are already worrying about what they look [like] and what people think about them, and I don’t think it’s a stupid thing but it’s like “why are they doing that? They are just kids.” So this is part of how I can speak aloud what I feel, and demonstrate the physical is not everything.

In all of your pieces that you’re showing it's black and white, but then there’s a bundle of color somewhere. Do the colors represent anything?

Yeah, they actually represent who you are inside. The series of illustrations are about self love and how you can improve or achieve self love. And I think these 16 years I’ve been in New York I have tried to do that, even though I didn’t realize it until now. They are black and white illustrations and the colors that pop out aren’t the “physical” illustration. Every single piece is of a girl doing something, in the first piece it’s a girl discovering what’s wrong with her, but she realizes nothing wrong. In the second one is helping herself to improve, to realize things can be better if you love yourself first and not to let everything get her down. Not for anyone, because they are many things you can’t control, but you can control yourself, if you can do that you have resolve.

In your piece, “Forgive,” who are you telling to forgive and who should she be forgiving?

She has to forgive herself. She’s like punishing herself because something happened or something different happened. She tries really hard and she does things wrong and things come out wrong, and she does things right and things still come out wrong, so it’s all these situations she can never forgive because she always feels [she is wrong]. But the flowers start coming up and she starts forgiving herself for the things that happen and don’t happen that aren’t her fault.

Anna Marcelo

Anna Marcelo is an artist who originates from the Philippines and is currently based there and in New York city. She is studying Graphic Design at Pratt Institute. Her work often touches on technology and mental health.

Some of your work involved modern technology and how it affects modern technology and how it affects relationships. Do you think the effect is positive or negative.

What I wanted to talk about was how we always think about how digital things are fake, but technology has evolved in a sense that it’s become an extension of ourselves and we have to question, “is it reality at this point?” because our social media, like snapchat, and instagram, in a world of everything to our nudes to our breakdowns they become documentations of our most vulnerable selves. So that’s what I wanted to talk about when it comes to digital intimacy. This can be both bad and good. I’ve done art experiments where people have sexually harassed me, but also there are such good things like intimate stories. Intimacy is just a positive thing, but there is vulnerability.

Do you think younger people are more likely to be affected?

Yeah, of course because we grew up with it [technology]. Like I grew up having internet friends and that whole thing. It becomes an extension of ourselves and that’s not necessarily a bad thing but there are effects to it.

It seems like you are trying to showcase the power of women in your pieces tonight, is that right?

Not exactly, it was actually about body politics and erotica. I wouldn’t call it positive but it is a commentary on it. You can freely interpret it - that’s like the whole art thing but when I created it, it was supposed to be a play on two types of binding that society creates on us. Most of them are filipino porn stars and most of them actually change their names into soda names, so there’s a girl called Pepsi Paloma to create this fantasy. And she was in the business since she was like 14.

Is that legal in the Philippines?

It’s not now, but it was the 80’s and it was legal back then. It was purely fucked up, they were forced to be stereotyped. It went to an extreme that this girl 3 years later kills herself at 17, and in her diary she talks about the violence in the porn industry. There’s nothing wrong with porn, but like the creation of it. That’s why I wanted to use binding because it symbolizes what society forces us to be physically.

Rosa Chang

Rosa Chang is an artist who originates in Seoul, South Korea. She regularly works in New York City and earned her Bachelors of Fine Arts at the Maryland Institute College of Art. She is currently enrolled in the Visual Narrative graduate program at the School of Visual Arts (SVA).

In your Weeping Tree Story, you say the use of abandoned objects, old garments, and denim serves as a metaphor for the feelings of those who feel socially abandoned and rejected, have you ever felt that way?

Yeah, of course, especially in my first couple of years surviving in a different country as an immigrant. Also I’m [a] minority [and] also [a] woman and English isn’t my first language. But I think these kind of things unconsciously inspired my art. But I kind of wanted to create something positive. I really like the idea of reusability, we recycle used stuff that can’t be used anymore but can turn it into something very cool.

When did you start caring about recycling? In America I’ve noticed it’s not really a big deal to a lot of people.

So I was working in a natural indigo dyeing studio two years ago where I was an apprentice. I learned how to dye fabric and realized that there is nothing to be wasted and the whole process taught me that everything comes back to the earth. And it helps regrow the earth, so it’s a cycle. I thought it would be nice to apply that whole process to my own artwork. It’s too long to explain the whole process of dyeing but the plants, water, and other resources are super precious.

Why did you choose cactus for this past exhibition?

Aside from this exhibition I’ve also been painting this series called, “I am not your comfort zone,” where I choose things like a cat or pillow, it can be something useful or something small and cute, and I thought maybe they want their own voice. For example, a cat that’s very cute but it doesn’t really want you to pet it all the time, so the pet wants the power to express this emotion. The items are usually fragile and have no voice to give them a power to express themselves. So as an alternative I decided to add needles on their surface so it turns into a cactus.

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