Therese Vandling

October 2nd, 2008

Therese Vandling (www.vandling.co.uk), most probably unaware of the existence of Subaquatica, one day received an e-mail asking for an interview for our website. Most of the times we interview people that we’ve worked with or met them somehow in the past. We didn’t know her at all but her work seemed enough proof that some further attention was needed. Also we usually interview artists and this swedish resident of London is not too sure if she’s actually an artist. She’s not too sure if she’s a graphic designer either because she hates being labelled… but, well, who doesn’t?

First, one thing we want to ask everybody for this interviews: When?, Where?, How? and Why? you started to consider yourself an artist or at least when did you first started to see that you wanted to draw, paint… for a living?

It took me a really long time to realize that you can do something you enjoy for a living; I come from a simple background where you work to earn a living. When a lot of my friends went traveling I didn’t have the money to go with them so I bought myself a ticket to London and got a job in a shoe shop, I hated it, but it was a really important moment when I realized that you spend a lot of time at work so you better enjoy it. It still took me some time to realize what I wanted to do. I have always been drawing a lot, as a child I was a daydreamer and quite shy so drawing was my thing. My mum used to get stressed out with the piles of drawings everywhere and my dad used to argue that he got one sheet of paper for Christmas every year and that was it when he was a kid. So as I was growing up it didn’t occur to me that drawing was something that people did for a living and when I did realize it seemed really farfetched like something that Picasso and guys like him was doing. I guess I lacked in confidence and had no clue about art. I still have a problem with the word ‘artist’, maybe I get around to it one day

You do work as an illustrator but also personal work: how different is your commercial work to your personal purely artistic work? How would you define the way your creative output steps on those two different ways?

When I do my personal work I spend a lot of time researching a subject. It can be months without me actually doing any visual output, but once I know what I want to communicate I find it a lot easier to decide how I’m going to execute it. This process is really important as it lets me reinvent myself. When I work for clients they have often seen some of my work and want something similar.

Do you feel liberated when you do personal work, without a client’s restrictions or when you do commercial work do these restrictions precisely feel more like a challenge than a limitation?

I enjoy both and I need both, I love having a good relationship with a client because they can help you grow as a commercial illustrator and I enjoy going through the process and achieving something that we are both happy with. It’s funny but it’s less painful doing commercial work, my personal work often seem like a really painful and slow experience, and once I have finished a project I often feel a bit sad, I think most creative people feel like that.

In your work there’s a predominance of “retro” style elements. The obvious questions is if your main influences are coming from the second half of the 20th century but also, how’s the balance between the pure creation from scratch, if there’s such a thing and the recycling?

I don’t see my work as retro at all, but I guess I can understand what you mean. I think graphics from the 60’s and 70’s are really strong, both conceptually and visually, they were less technically advanced and I think this sometimes gives it a certain warmth. I like their simplicity and I guess I’ve been influenced by this. Also I often work in screen printing and maybe this adds to this feel.

You are not the only artist or designer of your same generation to have that retro influences but the truth is that influences and styles from different artists of your same age range are very varied, tremendously heterogeneous and at the same time there’s a connection, a similar attitude… What would you say the different artists from your generation have in common?

I’m not sure, I guess we are all a product of our time and generation, I do a lot of collage and in that way I ‘sample’ the past into my work, I guess that is typical for our generation, we sample the past rather than looking into the future. I think this affects all areas of our culture especially music and fashion, but I don’t think it’s a bad thing it’s just the way things are at the moment.

So you do illustration, you typographic work, graphic design, maybe collage and I’m not sure if you also paint. Do you feel more of a drawer, a painter, an all-around artist… in other words, how’s your relationship to the different art disciplines nowadays when the line between them is often blurry?

I started as a graphic designer and I still do graphic design and I guess I should maybe call myself a graphic designer. There seems to be a need for people to put me in a box, at times this has caused me a lot of anxiety. I look at great designers like Alan Fletcher and Push Pin Studio and how they did really varied work, I wonder if this need of defining and narrowing down your discipline is a new need. One of the things that attracted me to graphic design in the first place was the fact that you don’t choose your medium your brief chooses your medium for you. I do what I do and if it makes it easier for people to put a label on me I’m quite happy for them to do so I just wont put a label on myself.

I would like you to let us know about the importance you put in the process of creating. Maybe it’s more complex than it appears or is very intuitive; maybe you focus more on the final result and use different processes as long as they take you there… Is it fast and wild and not rational at all, is it meticulous and slow, do you dismiss a lot of the stuff you do?… can you elaborate on this, please?

When I work for clients there is always a deadline that makes it difficult to spend too much time on the creative process, it’s a different way of working, you have to be quick and just go with your instinct, believe that the first idea is the best (which it often is) When I work on my own projects I put a lot of emphasis on the creative process and I enjoy letting research lead me into different areas, not knowing where it’s going and what the end product is going to be. Of course there is a time when you have to take control and make decisions but it all seems to happen quite natural.

How is a day in your life?

I currently work as a designer for a publishing company so at the moment my days are pretty normal, I get up, cycle to work, work, cycle home. I’ll cook some food with my boyfriend and then listen to some music and do some drawing. …or I just go to the pub with my friends!

You also have been working, even more lately, with different galleries. How do you feel in that environment?

I participated in a group show in Australia recently, I really enjoyed being able to show my work over there, I also did a catalogue for a gallery in London, I worked very closely with the artist and it was a good experience, he got a writer to create a story inspired by his work and I illustrated the story and designed the catalogue. I enjoy the gallery environment and I would love to have the opportunity to take part in more group shows or have a solo show in London.

What have you been working recently?, any interesting project coming up?

I got a few personal projects brewing, but I don’t really want to discuss them yet. Apart from that I’ve been doing a lot of editorial illustrations for clients such as The New York Times, The world of Interiors, Le Cool London guide, and I’m currently working on illustrations for a recipe book.

Something you want to do that it hasn’t been proposed to you yet?

I would love to do more music related stuff and stuff to do with dogs or animals in general, I would also like to do some fabric and creative collaborations with people of other disciplines. It would be quite interesting to do some fashion related stuff as well. There are a lot of things I still want to do…go on a worldwide inspirational tour for example

Can you turn us into some artists or something interesting that we should know about?

Dieter Roth, Roman Cieslewicz, Angus McBean, Melvin Sokolsky and Le Gun are a few artists that inspire me. I’m quite a fan of theatrical surrealism.

Entry Filed under: Artists