Thursday, August 16, 2012

Contributor Interview: Miss Salopette



Second interview in our series. This time it's Esther Lara who's interviewing Miss Salopette, an Italian artist with a quirky view on things. 

Blonde girl

Esther Lara: Hello! Who are you? explain me a little bit about yourself. 
Miss Salopette: Hello my name is Mery Sinatra or you can call me Miss Salopette.
I draw, I paint, I sketch and I spend a lot of time on internet.
Many of my works are very influenced by Japan weird things, internet, childhood, insects, rats and my own feelings/histeries of the moment.

EL: I've been looking on your website, your work is amazing! How would you describe your art?
MS: Thank you :)
My feelings are strongly related with the subjects of my artworks so I describe my art as very personal with some pop or disturbing elements.
The girls I draw have a sweet, childish look but embody a contradiction. Their kawaiiness is misleading. They’re gloomy, alienated, confused, sometimes apathetic.
I like to insert elements that underline their mood.  Sometimes it’s an animal usually society finds repulsive: Larvae, insects, cockraches, snails. Sometimes it is an object, like a garbage can, dynamite, a cutter, an alien spaceship, a cross… or a genetic or aesthetic anomaly, like conjoined twins, extra legs, amputated arms or missing parts, like eyes. Or Sometimes is only the flat and vacuum background where they live suspended in time and space.

EL: What inspires yourself? How do you usually work? 
MS: Internet is a big ocean of inspirations, i like to explore it, i'm really affascinated by the underground stories found on forums, or on blog articles about alien, conspiracy, weird stories of humanity, human cases of abnormality, society repulsive stories and so on. Many of this stories grow on me as a strong feeling that i need to transfer on paper or on canvas.
But lately events of my life and my own feelings inspire my work most of all.
When I work I elaborate what I want to represent on my head for days, sketching it. Many of my artworks terminate with this step, because they already express the essence of the idea without the need of colour or a dramatic support. Other times they need to be defined more deeply. In this case I choose the proper technique, support and colouring. I usually work alone at my studio with cat and a glass of wine.

EL: Where do you live? Do you like it? How do you spend your free time?
MS: I live near Milan, Italy.  I like the place where I live but it's not very stimulating. So I've furnished my home as my safe place full of stimulating things that surround me everyday (books, objects, dvds, toys, artworks..). 
For me it's not important where i live but the few people near/around me. And I like to travel a lot so it's ok live here.
I'm a very isolated girl, I like to spend a lot of time on internet, watch many movies and documentaries about universe, alien and spirit world, play with my cat, listening my boyfriend plays guitar and piano, sleep, and drawing cause is my mainly activity during my free time!

Trash

EL: What does it means to you the concept of NSFW?
MS: NSFW is what art should be, free of any censorship and free of the fear of what society may think about your art.

EL: Finally, tell me something important to you.
MS: "Never forget your beginner spirit". 
The concept of this quote by yoshitomo nara is very important for me and i try to follow it every time i start to paint or draw.

Find out more about Miss Salopette and her work in her portfolio and her blog.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Contributor interview: Rieko Matsuzaki

This is the first of a series of short interviews to all the participants of Lost Souls, NSFW's first zine.
Our lovely Rieko was interviewed by Miss Salopette, and this is the result.
Miss Salopette: Please, present yourself, tell us something about you
Rieko Matsuzaki: I was born and brought up in Tokyo Japan. I majored in art in college and I'm working as an illustrator now.

MS: What's your biggest inspiration for your art? what inspires you most?
RM: I like drawing people, and I'm influenced most by "Ukiyoe". "Ukiyoe" is usually called the starting point of comics in Japan. I'm also influenced by pop artists such as Andy Warhol and Tadanori Yokoo.

MS: I like your rakugaki drawings! It seems a cool idea of blog but with drawings! 
can you explain us what's a rakugaki and where do you find inspiration to do them?
RM: I make a living by working at various part‐time jobs. Because, it's too difficult to live only by work of illustrations. Due to the bad economy, we can't get jobs easily in Japan, so I make balloon animals for children, distribute flyers, transform into a bartender, or doing various things!
Then, I can see various people and watch funny scene each time. There're a lot of strange visitors and interesting peopl. At first, I was drawing free scribble to make my friends laugh. However, I thought that it might become the comics which satirized the world like ukiyoe if these are collected and edited. So, I started my blog.

MS: What do you like to do in your spare time?
RM: I love to watch movies and go shopping!
I love spending time in a cafe, too.

MS: How is the art scene in japan? what do you think about it?
RM: I think that excessive things, shocking things, and OTAKU works were very popular in Japan. But, all we Japanese people changed our minds because of catastrophic earthquake on 11/3/2011.
In sadness or anxiety state, we the artists have come to think "What can we do?"
and, we came to value the relationship. Moreover, KAWAII things, happy things, and beautiful things became more important. 
MS: What do you think about the themes and the concept of the NSFW, 
do you use NSFW as a content in your artworks?
RM: I interacted with NSFW members, and I thought that girls in the world have things in common.We're holding future troubles, sorrows of love, mental anguish...and, We like chatting, eating, and, loving kawaii things! And so I tackled the work by the theme "GIRLSPOWER in the world against bad economy!".

MS:  Where can we find out more about your art (internet websites..)?
RM: I have a rakugaki blog about people-watching!
You can get to know The Japanese of nowadays!(^ω^ )



More about Rieko in her Rakugaki blog or in her portfolio. Look forward to her contribution to the zine, it's really cute!!

Saturday, June 30, 2012

Sneak preview

We're on the verge of releasing our first zine, so here's a small candy to keep you as excited about it as we are!