Years ago I was walking through a building at my university and found an abandoned copy of An Introduction to Symbolic, 3rd Edition by Susanne K. Langer. I love a free book, so I had to take it. The book really intrigued me since I had no clue what “Symbolic Logic” even was. I learned […]
Read more
Marrying contemporary chaos with the imagery found on his phone screen, Yuyang Zhang (he/him) is an image-maker with a distinct “tongue-in-cheek” point of view. Yuyang’s inspiration and imagery comes far and wide: Chinese propaganda posters, Marvel’s television series WandaVision, iPhone emojis, or his love of sports cars. In this interview, we talk about his image […]
Read more
I’ve always seen art as a way to get to know people. Interpretations of work and approaches to artistic practice being a great conversation to understand the intimacies of a creative’s mind beyond talking about the weather. When I met this month’s spotlighted artist, Juan Astudillo, we were doing an artist residency in New York […]
Read more
Carnage, chaos, cuddling. This month’s artist interview is with Ben Herbert. Ben combines sculpture, collage, and photography to create a world all his own. One that involves pup-play, a burning landscape, and exploration of the human body. How would you describe yourself as an artist? Ben: I would describe myself as an artist, photographer, and […]
Read moreBeing her family history’s archivist while weaving a story of her own, Thương Hoài Trần (she/they) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Chicago, IL. Combining their training in printmaking with newfound skills in fibers, she documents a familial immigrant story told to them through word-of-mouth and old photographs. How would you introduce yourself as an […]
Read more
There is something special about seeing an artist create a self-portrait. Through a self-portrait you can analyze what an artist finds valuable, what they overlook, and how they wish to be perceived by their audience. For this month’s issue, I interviewed Jordan Ismaiel Ramsey (they/them), an artist committed to self-portraiture as a form of self-reliance. […]
Read more
This month’s spotlighted artist is Malí Bilstad (they/them). Currently finishing up their degrees in Illustration and Theater at Iowa State University, Malí is an illustrator creating their own tales of childhood fantasy. By doing this they hope to create worlds that their audience can escape reality from and find themselves in. Who are you as […]
Read more
Tackling issues with post-grad life adjustment, work anxiety, and impulse purchases, Amy Chu (@camoot.journal) gives her viewers a multi-faceted look at modern day adult obstacles and the escapism she finds through imagination and art. A recent grad of SMFA Tufts in Boston, Amy’s work showcases her interest in vulnerability and storytelling while taking inspiration from […]
Read moreFor this month’s issue I interviewed Vicky Liang, an illustrator/artist currently based in New Jersey. Saccharine, round, and able to make one’s cheeks blush, Vicky’s illustrations capture innocent vision through singular pieces and small-page comics. Taking homage from her inspirations in children’s book illustration and Studio Ghibli media, Vicky incorporates elements such as anthropomorphic animals, […]
Read more
Hi everyone! I’m Clémence, and I’ve been the Art Editor here at Vagabond City since 2019. This month’s issue will be my last one, after a total of 25 interviews with 25 brilliant artists who have been kind enough to share their thoughts with me and who have all taught me a lot. For my […]
Read more
This month’s featured artist, Bianca Dunn, is a Mexican/Chinese artist and illustrator from Sacramento, California. I discovered her work in my inbox, when she sent me a selection of gouache pieces, some monochrome, and others an explosion of blues, reds and yellows. Her work is inspired by everything and anything, from Frida Kahlo’s paintings to […]
Read more
This month’s featured artist is Kyrsta Morehouse, a Los Angeles-based photographer. Kyrsta is not only a photographer. She is originally a makeup artist, and started taking film and Polaroid photographs while working on film sets. She is also a poet, and her work has been published in several literary magazines. Last but not least, she […]
Read more
I discovered Ninn Salaün’s work when a painting of a sky at dusk all in pink and purple hues popped up on my Twitter feed. The picture came from Ninn’s account Reports From Unknown Places, on which she has been posting a picture of the sky with a caption explaining the meteorological events depicted everyday […]
Read more
Who are you? My name is Zoe, and I grew up in the South West of France, lost in the middle of fields and vineyards. I read a lot of comics when I was a teenager, especially 90s comics by L’Association [a French comic books publisher], and it got me interested in visual storytelling. I […]
Read more
Jess Vieira is a rising star in Brazil. Her paintings and illustrations have been featured on book covers, in advertisements, and even in two issues of Vogue last year. Jess was born in 1992 in Brasília, and she now lives in Salvador, Bahia. She likes to work with as many mediums as she can, from […]
Read more
Gwladys Le Roy is a 29-years-old French illustrator. She grew up in the south-west of France, near the sea, before moving to Paris. After a few years there, she decided to move to the US, where she has spent the past two years between New York and San Francisco. Gwladys works as a communications consultant […]
Read more
This month’s featured artist is Sarah Dahir, an illustrator based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Sarah began her project Nawaal Illustrations a couple of years ago, her first experience with professional illustration after drawing for herself for years. Sarah is interested in the relationship between women (she grew up with three sisters), and especially Black women. […]
Read more
Noémie Klein is an emerging French illustrator, whom we discovered by chance on Instagram. Her work is inspired by spirituality, nature, and ancient philosophies, and has been gaining more and more attention lately. Noémie is an illustrator of the inside. She wants to make ideas into images, and her illustrations translate abstract concepts into shapes […]
Read more
Alice Cloutier-Lachance’s work bears a striking resemblance to Francesca Woodman’s. Alice is an emerging Canadian photographer, and, coincidentally, she is friends with Monse Muro, whom we interview for our January 2021 issue. She creates mysterious, monochromatic photographs of her friends and family, sometimes blurred, so as to reveal just enough to keep us wondering. She […]
Read more
For this month’s interview, we talked to Ludi Leiva, a multidisciplinary artist based in the Pacific Northwest. Ludi (short for Ludmila) mainly works as an illustrator, and her vibrant illustrations featuring intriguing human figures have appeared in Vogue, them., Twitter, and exposed in the streets of New York. In addition to being an artist, she […]
Read more
Monse Muro‘s photographs are displayed in a beautiful layout on her Instagram page, whose description reads “borrower of souls for a click or so”. Monse also borrows time, inviting us to stop what we’re doing and take a moment to look around us. Monse is a Mexican-born photographer. She lives in Tio’tia:ke, Canada, where she […]
Read more
Photographer Neha Hirve grew up in Pune, India, but that was only one of her many homes. Neha moves a lot. She has lived and studied in the USA, the Czech Republic, Sweden, and many other places. The relationship we have with the land we live on, and the people who are trying to redefine that […]
Read more
This month’s featured artist, Jade Delmage, is an emerging British artist recently graduated from the University of Brighton. Jade’s work exists in a multitude of forms that all have in common a kind of playfulness, from her “weird videos” (as she herself describes them) reminiscent of David Lynch’s early short films, to her colorful paintings […]
Read more
Weronika Marianna is a Polish artist and designer based in Amsterdam. Her paintings and animations of abstract female figures in pastel colors have attracted clients such as Netflix or Elle Magazine, and she has co-created Szajn, an online space promoting art by women. Weronika discussed her work, her inspirations, and the importance of change with […]
Read more
Lorena Lohr started taking photographs when she was travelling around the United States at age 20. Her pictures give off a peaceful sense of stillness, contrasting with the ever moving way they were shot. Lorena does not photograph people but objects, traces of people’s existence, from a leftover maraschino cherry on a plate to a […]
Read more
Georgie Wileman, born in 1988, is a British photographer based in Brooklyn, New York. Her photographic projects document intimate experiences of pain and social injustice: with THIS IS ENDOMETRIOSIS, she demystifies a still misunderstood illness which she’s suffered from her entire life, while To Thy Own Self Be True denounces the dehumanization of transgender people […]
Read more
This month’s featured artist, Augusto BM, is a Brazilian illustrator with a talent for creating entire aesthetic universes with only a pen and paper, or through the otherworldly collages that compose his Instagram stories. Influenced by the art of ancient civilizations, which he discovered while studying History, Augusto’s artwork explores the relationship between nature and […]
Read more
Hannah Rae Powell began illustrating to distract herself from her career, and she did it so well that it became almost like a second one. Her playful, colorful illustrations evoke Matisse’s La Danse adorned with floral patterns. They have seduced thousands of followers on Instagram, as well as gallerists and fashion brands. Hannah lives in […]
Read more
The phrase “sacrée frangine” is so idiomatic to French that it is impossible to translate it into English with exactitude. The word “sacrée” literally translates to “sacred”, but paired with a substantive, it becomes equivalent to the expression “a hell of a”, while “frangine” (informal) means “sister”. A “sacrée frangine” is a “sacred sister” and […]
Read more
Octavia Tomyn describes herself as an extreme extrovert who loves meeting people as part of her work. It also seems like she loves representing people as part of her work. Her Instagram page shows hundreds of human figures, sketched in a single black line, but which still depict a strong individuality and subtle emotion. Octavia […]
Read more
Carissa Potter Carlson‘s work creates a strange, cathartic experience. A feeling of intrusion, as if you were reading a stranger’s thoughts, but also, a feeling of vulnerability, as if at the same time, that stranger were reading yours. Her art relieves loneliness by showing things everyone experiences but no one talks about, from small embarrassments […]
Read more
Danielle Morgan sees things most people don’t see, and turns them into art. Danielle lives in Stockholm, but she was born in a small town in Saskatchewan, Canada, and grew up in Victoria, British Columbia. Her attention to detail brings the light on small, everyday occurrences of beauty : the shape of a hair-tie, arms […]
Read more
How would you describe your artistic style? Versace + Arby’s. Tammy Faye Messner + Honey Boo Boo + the Virgin Mary. Key West + Manhattan + the Research Triangle + Hell. Who / what inspires you to create? In terms of who, definitely my partner and my family/friends and other writers/artists I admire. But in […]
Read more
For many artists, the question of how to create in the era of climate change is difficult to answer. Caroline Dare has some ideas. Caroline is a 25-year-old American photographer currently living in New Zealand. Her body of work ranges from monochrome portraits to colorful, almost surrealistic scenes, from carefully composed pieces to fleeting moments […]
Read more
Where are you from? What kind of work do you do? I am from Saint-Petersburg Russia, but live in Israel now. I work as an illustrator and graphic designer. When did you begin illustrating? Could you tell us what your process is? I began illustrating about 6 years ago, after finding a modern illustration catalog […]
Read more
Tell us about yourself and the kind of artwork you do. My name is Višnja Mihatov Barić, I was born in Zadar but I live and work now in the capital city of Croatia, Zagreb. I graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb and after that I worked as a graphic designer for […]
Read more
Tell us a little bit about yourself. My name is Qianqian Ye, but I go by Q. I was born in China and moved to the US in 2012. I went to architecture school and graduate school. After graduation I worked as an urban designer and public art consultant. I’ve been interested in art since […]
Read more
Tell us a little bit about yourself. Well, my full name is Pride Nyasha Mapfumo. I am a Zimbabwean male artist and expressionist painter whose art mainly explores the dynamic nature of love and relationships. I studied art in high school and have continued as a self taught artist. I received a degree in Architecture […]
Read more
You work in so many different mediums. Do you have a favorite that you focus on more than others? Honestly, I can’t choose a favorite. I think different fragments — memories, emotions, ideas — demand different forms of representation. I enjoy allowing myself the freedom to play with as many different mediums as I […]
Read more
Where are you from? Columbus, OH What are your hobbies? I’m usually creating something, photography, dance, and I’m always up for trying something new! What kind of dance have you done? I did Jazz and lyrical in high school and then I choreographed in an organization called Ayo at Cedarville University. When did you start […]
Read more
How do your surroundings influence your style and practice? I’ve been very lucky to live in some super inspiring cities over the years. Bristol, Berlin, Belfast (I only seem to live in cities beginning with B) Each city has had an amazing illustration community to connect with. Feeling part of something like that really helps […]
Read more
Nicole Lane: Where are you from? When did you begin illustrating? Nanna Prieler : I was born in a small, idyllic village in the mountains of southern Austria. Growing up in this traditional kind of fairytale world made me a very romantic person who has been obsessed with drawing ever since. I went away to an art […]
Read more
I had the honor of sitting down with Shey Rivera at AS220 in Providence, Rhode Island to discuss her work as a poet, artist, curator, and director. You can read or listen below! Katie Clark: So I’m just going to start off by reading a few lines of your bio: Shey is the […]
Read more
Can you talk about your background? How did you first get into illustration? I got into illustration as a kid, despite the fact that I went to an art school that was quite traditional and somehow uptight, I became interested thanks to the school library. I didn’t felt so interested in reproducing the great masters. […]
Read more
When did you first begin painting? I first fell in love with painting after my parents took me to a van Gogh exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston when I was seven. Looking up at the thick colorful swirls of paint on his canvases—I was hooked. I wanted to make my own […]
Read more
Can you talk about your interest in figures? Well, as most of my illustrations are about an experience I have had, I usually draw human forms to visualize an protagonist of the story I am trying to tell. My inspirations are sometimes friends, strangers or even figures from movies. I think in middle eastern countries […]
Read more
Where are you from? When did you begin making work? I used to live on the beach in Pacific Palisades, CA but will be relocating to Seattle in a month. Drastic change. I’ve been making art my whole life but I only started making it with serious intent in 2011. From that point, I only […]
Read more
Can you talk about the piece, “Chiquita” in particular and how this still life touches on themes of exotification and sexualization? At first glance, Chiquita, seems like a classical European style still life with fruits and a decorative floral pattern. However, considered alongside “Not exotic (not your forbidden fruit)” it begins to take on a […]
Read more
How would you describe your style? It’s kind of hard to describe. I almost think I don’t have a style. I’m not very good at stylizing or idealizing during my drawing, so I end up just drawing the subject very simply and precisely. I think I referred to my style as “instruction manual drawings” before, […]
Read more
Mel Cook is a visual artist currently living and working in Chicago, Illinois. She was born and raised in Ohio. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio in 2009 and attended Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois where she received her Master of Fine Arts in […]
Read more
VAGABOND CITY 