PENCIL PUNK: INTERVIEW WITH WILL SWEENEY [ENG] "...I like to tell stories in my pictures, to entertain, maybe to freak people out a little bit and provoke a bit of questioning… "Pencil Punk" - my friend called me that recently and it made me laugh..." Will Sweeney - british artist whose artworks is literally nurtured by the vast cultural layer of Misty Albion. His way of thinking was formed with every new page of comics, sci-fi and horror movies from childhood, and a sense of beauty grew along with a craving for counter-culture and the music accompanying it. Mr. Sweeney's paths of interest converge in a single denominator - an illustration which style is as complex as recognizable: a fantastic psychedelia of characters and details that equally goes beyond any framework and fits into any context. It is not surprising that the artist's work is closely connected with the world of clothes, merch and toys: right up to collaborations with the Brain Dead team, the Undercover brand, Medicom Toy and Ferntoy companies. In our conversation with Mr. Sweeney, we discussed in details forming off his illustrator character: the discovery of the visual and musical side of punk, the British counter-culture, the first steps in the fashion world, views on the perfect toy and consumption, an approach to drawing and memories of people who played an important role in his work. |