FREDDIEMADE - TWISTED REALITIES

TWISTED REALITIES

HOW DO YOU DESCRIBE YOUR WORK?

An unapologetic, playful fusion of worlds that would otherwise never meet.

WHAT DOES YOUR ART FOCUS ON?

My art focuses on my thoughts and day dreams. I create digital collages and GIF’s that twist reality into a false reality. I’m obsessed with the idea of escapism and I love that I can create a world of my own using elements from every-day life. My collages tend to either be bright and bold in color or heavily black; it’s rare that I create work that looks photographic.

WHAT TRIGGERS YOUR IMAGINATION?

Literally anything and everything! Mostly, it’sreally insignificant moments that inspire me.For example, a few months ago, I was in the supermarket and a man was queuing at the checkout holding a round topiary bush which was perfectly covering his face. From that, I created a collage where a naked man is stood behind a similar bush, with his genitals and face covered by the circular foliage, but everything else is visible. I always write down ideas as soon as they come to me but the list seems to be growing quicker than I can make the work!

WHERE ARE YOU BASED?

I’m based on Brick Lane in the East End of London. It’s amazing to be surrounded by so many like-minded creative people! I’ve lived here for six months now and I’m obsessed with the buzz of the area, I think I’ll be sticking around for a while.

WHEN DID YOU JOIN INSTAGRAM?

I joined Instagram in 2013 but only turned my account into a gallery of my work in June of this

year, when my work started gaining popularity on Tumblr. I erased all my previous images and rebranded myself as ‘Freddiemade’.

HOW DID IT MAKE YOUR WORK EVOLVE?

After making work primarily for Tumblr in the past, creating my Instagram account exposed me to a different audience. Suddenly I was able to communicate more easily with like-minded artists and brands in the UK and internationally, whereas on Tumblr, your work tends to be slightly more anonymous. Using Instagram made it more important for me to create polished work. I use Tumblr as more of a sketchpad andInstagram as a gallery of finished artwork. I thinkboth platforms are fantastic in different ways forraising an artist's profile.

WHO ARE THE PEOPLE YOU WORK WITH?

Primarily I work for House of Holland fashion designers in London, creating digital content and artwork for their online and social platforms as well as print based design for the brand. I’ve also recently started working as a freelance digital artist; working on projects for Converse and Interscope Records represented by Tumblr and Giphy respectively, which has been fantastic!

HOW OFTEN DO YOU POST?

I try to post every day, but that’s not alwayspossible if I can’t find the time. Sometimes Imight miss a day and others I post twice, I like to average around seven a week, I think it’s good to keep the momentum going and I like to create as much artwork as I can.

WHAT ACCOUNTS DO YOU FOLLOW RELIGIOUSLY?

It goes without saying that @PlastikMagazine is

one of the best Instagrams going! I’ve also been crazy over @TylerSpangler for a while now. @Mewomag, @JustifiedMagazine, @DiscoNaps, @SaintHoax and @Jessica Walsh are also firmfavourites.

WHAT IS YOUR MOST LIKED ARTWORK/ PHOTO?

My most liked artwork on Instagram so far is a collage of Miley Cyrus at the VMA’s wearing a custom House of Holland dress that had aninflatable ‘do it’ slogan on the front. In the piece,I added the word ‘just’ beside her and collaged the Nike ‘swoosh’ in her hand. The image has had over 300 likes so far.

WHAT KIND OF MUSIC DO YOU LISTEN TO?

I know it’s a cliche, but I'm obsessed with music. I love all sorts, from deep house, to 70’s disco to 90’s R&B. The most recent song I listened to was ‘Prints of Whales’ by Taches, an artist I have been addicted to for a while now.

WHAT ARE YOUR LATEST PROJECTS OR COLLABORATIONS?

At the moment I’m working with @Lucidscreen on a really exciting project, creating a GIF for a well known brand of alcoholic drink. I can’t say any more at the moment, as the project is in the early stages, but i’m really enjoying working on it.

HOW CAN SOMEONE REACH YOU?

They can email me at smithsonfreddie@gmail. com and I’d love the hear from them!