ARTIST INTERVIEW WITH ERIN FORSYTH

Posted by Cleo on the 22nd of February, 2012 , 0 comments

Tucked away behind the doors of her Karangahape studio in Auckland, New Zealand Erin Forsyth draws. A dark gem in the NZ art scene, Erin's idolized for her detailed illustrations of the circus freaks, seductresses and outsiders that play out in her imagination. She's a bit of a rebel, a touch mysterious and a woman on a mission...and she apologises for none of it. Illustrator, painter and curator, this chick is an unstoppable creative force coming to a city near you.

You used to be a ninja graffiti artist and now you do some large scale murals beautiful, raunchy illustrations. Can you briefly run down your history as an artist for us?
Mum says I drew my first real smiley face, eyes, mouth, nose in a circle when I was two visiting my older sister at kindy. My mum's an artist too so it's always been natural and encouraged. I'm pretty lucky in that way. I got A's all through school for art until I dropped out start of year 12. My art teacher at the time said I was too young to get into art school so I applied to do animation. Although I probably didn't appreciate it at the time, drawing for eight hours a day and learning the consideration of character construction and line work definitely continues to inform my practice today.

It was also great to be in a school full of people obsessed with drawing though half the class was busy doodling graffiti or nudey pictures. It was a relief to spend my day with such a large amount of people with the same passion. That was 1999, the year I first started tagging and the year I had to use my diversion! The next year I decided a life drawing of other peoples pictures was not the life for me and I applied for a private art school the day after the course had started, got accepted and started the next day. In retrospect they probably accepted me just for the cash but it made me feel a bit cocky and I was sourly disappointed to be in with a completely different group that could not draw and were not interested in it. So I dropped out of that too.

I then opened my own graffiti store 'Creep' a little while later and ran that for a few years. Got to meet all sorts and had a gay old time until some homies ripped me off. So I moved to Sydney which is where I met some truly talented and disciplined artists like Dmote and realized I needed to step my game up, develop a work ethic and stop being a bum if I wanted to be successful.

I'm lucky I have my mum, I'm lucky I didn't go through art school and I'm lucky I got ripped off. The short answer would be forever and then again everyday.

What are your favourite colours to work with?
Straight black and white. Anything lurid. As a combo traffic red, light ice blue and some nice dark brown...More black...

What do you prefer, going big or going small?
I like to draw really small intricate details if I'm working in black and white but generally this will be part of a much larger composition. I've worked on pigment liner drawings over A0 in size full detail. If I'm painting then I'd normally go big and bold or small and considered.

There are characters and themes that are re-ocurring in your works. Can you introduce us to these themes and characters and their personalities?
Sometimes I get hooked on drawing particular things for a while; wolves, birds, flannel shirts, side parts, skulls, Siamese twins and bearded ladies have all made regular appearances in my work. Last year I got on a bit of a circus theme and ended up painting a series which involved a pretty interesting cast of characters. Whatever characters I paint are interchangeable I guess; they can be the villain in one work and the hero in another such is human nature. I've got a weird little fascination with the archetypes of the prophet, the seeker and the vessel.

If you could bring one of your characters to life which one would it be?
From last year I'd probably bring the Siamese circus twins to life. We'd hang out and drink longies, but they'd constantly be whispering to each other about me when I turned my back and I bust them out of the corner of my eye then they'd not say anything and pretend I was crazy. It would get awkward after sometime. They'd probably try to escape my chaperone in the real world by saying they were going to the bathroom and then trying to stuff each other out a small window in a cubicle. Even if they got out it they couldn't run very fast don't know why they bother with that stupid crap. They're hustlers that are always screwing up the hustle.

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