VANESSA MCKEOWN
Describe your work in THREE words.
Colorful.
Cheeky - people say that to me so I'll take that.
Surreal - I do love mixing odd things together.
What does your art focus on?
I'm swayed towards the surreal side of art.
What triggers your imagination?
Usually looking at pictures or seeing different things traveling/ art etc can spark things off and I end up seeing it differently. I think that could be due to eyesight though!
Has Instagram influenced your work?
Instagram has influenced my work a lot I think, its easy to be subconsciously influenced which can be good but then you end up being inspired from one source. I like to follow accounts that are completly different from mine and don't do similar work.
Who’s had the most influence on your artistic growth?
I think my boyfriend, he always says I could do better or tells me if he doesn't like it. I don't always agree haha. I also have a friend who does photography who I often ask for a second opinion, he always tells me I should push my work further. I think having harsh critics as well as myself really makes me grow.
Besides your computer/phone, what is the one thing you cannot work without?
Enough sleep!
Name three Instagram accounts you follow religiously.
I love inter_disciplinary
fuck jerry (who doesn't follow that?)
nasa!
Your all-time five favorite music tracks?
Cleopold - Scarlet, Parov Stelar – Catgroove, Undertale soundtrack.
Tell us about your biggest failure
When I was seventeen, I had severe depression and literally I cried every day. After I overcame the depression, I found out that solitude can also could be the key trigger of creating artworks, so ever since then I'd rather be friends with my loneliness during making my artworks.
If you could live inside a movie, which one would it be?
In the movie Eternal Sunshine, there is a clinic called Lacuna where the doctor deletes specific memories if the patient wants them deleted. It would be great if I were there and had deleted memories which I do not want. However, in reality, we cannot delete any memories and cannot but live embracing them. When I was a child, it was all about losing the bitter past. Ironically, they were romanticized over time and even the bitterness of the past became my personality. Everything, whether happy or sad, blessed or cursed, confronted or feared, seen or unseen, tangible or intangible, or avoidable or inevitable became who I am. To me, memories are precious.
Who is your dream collaboration?
There are too many dreams. I wish to form collaborations with fashion-brands, singers, other artists and actors who are good at acting.
What keeps you going?
Anyone can reach me at: alessiI. I cannot bear being static. If I do not move forward or create things, I cannot bear it. I guess it is my nature that I need to keep going further.