Interview
Catsby Eyesore
New to the art world, Irish born Catsby Eyesore is a self-taught multi-disciplinary artist currently working with coloured pencils. Her current fixation involves an entirely unique process of taking old and poor quality/pixelated photographs of deceased rap musicians from the 90s and using a range of visual information such as video together with her imagination to re-create the original in much higher quality whilst still maintaining the exact likeness of the individual, but with added intricate detail and enhancement. As such, the resulting portrait draws a fine line of balance between realism and an artfully styled drawing. This displays a vibrant tribute and celebration of life that respects the humanity of the person she portrays with every minute that goes into each drawing. This can take hundreds of hours to complete and is all done completely freehand.
What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?
“My background is actually in Sport and Exercise! It was actually during Lockdown when a bizarre set of circumstances came about that brought me to Art. Suddenly, I was home all day by myself with my three closest friends, my cats. I had forgotten to take the recycling out after a bunch of deliveries, and we all know cats love cardboard so I just thought it’ll be fun to build a cat castle! My husband jokingly said it was an ‘eyesore’ and encouraged me to decorate it so I pranked him and went with the ‘Eyesore’ vibe of all sorts of crazy stuff like graffiti and cats in bonkers colours and neon designs. Hence the name and birth of ‘Catsby Eyesore,’ an alter ego I created to break down any barriers I thought I had about making art. I really enjoyed art as a kid but I realized there was so much pressure on me then because I was good at it, so that experience really took me back to the pure and playful childlike quality and sheer enjoyment for art I had way back then. That messy fun experience that was purely experimental and joyful. So, I bought a sketchpad and some posca markers and started drawing more cats and the more cats I drew the better I got and It all just went from there. I started winning competitions and getting commissions. I realized this was a long-lost dream since childhood so I took voluntary severance from my old job to pursue it. I thought, I can do this, I want to be an artist! Now, three years in, I’ve only just started doing originals and prints. I’ve been so happy ever since.”
What inspires you?
“My cats, the people in my life I’m so lucky to love and my life experiences. I’m also heavily inspired by music, most especially rap and hip hop. David Bowie, not just his music and persona but he had some very interesting things to say in interviews.”
What themes do you pursue? Is there an underlying message in your work?
“It varies from piece to piece. My current work there is a theme of celebrating the lives of and remembering the people portrayed. There is a direct relationship between music and art but there is also such an element of sadness to it too. These were young talented people who died in such horrific circumstances, and it deeply upsets me. What saddens me further is the poor quality of those vintage photos.
There’s definitely a theme there regarding societal issues, that although this happened in the 90’s these issues are very much prevalent still today. It’s my way of saying not only thank you for the music but also of recording their moment in time, remembering them and celebrating their life and art and capturing their personalities. It’s about using art as a means for remastering, restoring or recreating the original reference to give their image the glow up and detail and attention they deserve. Giving them back the voice they lost when they died and immortalizing them especially with archival grade materials, that’s so important. It’s about capturing every essence of the persona and displaying it visually, not bringing them back to life sadly, but creating portraits that are so lifelike in some ways that at first glance you think it’s a photograph and then on closer inspection you realize it’s been meticulously created and then some. It’s also very much up to the viewer as well and what messages and themes they take away from it too. That’s also so important. With previous works of course there is a theme of love for animals there but also a capturing of their quirks and characters with vibrant colors etc too, the same of course with people and self-portraiture. In everything I do there’s always a common theme that comes back down to celebrating life in one way or another.”
How would you describe your work?
“It’s unique in many ways and it’s everything it shouldn’t be but just is. It makes a statement individual to each piece. My work is both intensely intricately detailed and vibrantly colour enhanced and saturated, right on a fine line of being too much so, but just about balanced enough to get away with it. It’s very much about breaking and testing both the rules and boundaries of art. Even in my black and white portraits I still use undertones of hues and colours that are barely noticeable but just enough to give it a dynamic effect and add life. In terms of detail, I go down to the very spots and pores on the face, the texture of the skin, I add in a lot of detail that simply isn’t there in the reference. Things like the individual knit pattern on a jumper or reflection in the glasses or eyes. I’ll even put in each hair or strand of fur individually or add the reflection of the owner in a dogs eye for example. There are always nice personal touches. It’s constantly said that you need a really good clear reference but that’s not the case with my work, I like to test these rules and then some, I’m excited to test the boundaries of what’s possible with a material and then break that. There have been a lot of mistakes, and that’s brilliant because each one led to something better or a new discovery. I tend to just do unconventional things, in my own way and just make it work whether it’s a busy overcrowded background or glaringly bright colours, or going so heavy on the detail/using poor reference etc., like it shouldn’t work but it does and I very much love to push that. There’s also the fact I completely freehand them and use a lot of imagination too, that could go so wrong, but I love to take risks with my work, I have to challenge myself and the learning and self-progression that comes with that is immense. I’m really excited to see where I go further with coloured pencils, as asides from sketches im actually only on my 5th drawing with them now, 3rd one in colour. All my previous work was posca and acrylic.”
Which artists influence you most?
“The rap musicians I'm drawing most definitely and also absolutely David Bowie. There is a quote of his that I live by with my art, ‘If you feel safe in the area you’re working in, you’re not working in the right area. Always go a little further into the water than you feel capable of being in. Go a little bit out of your depth. And when you don’t feel that your feet are quite touching the bottom, you’re just about in the right place to do something exciting.’ My creative process very much reflects and echoes these words.”
“My work is both intensely intricately detailed and vibrantly colour enhanced and saturated, right on a fine line of being too much so, but just about balanced enough to get away with it.”
What is your creative process like?
“I very recently switched from posca marker and acrylic to purely coloured pencil, but as always my creative process is bonkers. I’m an AuDHD artist so it’s both strictly organized and absolutely chaotic in equal measures. The process itself is hard, and also exciting and a little terrifying, but I need it to be like that. I don’t actually enjoy it in the typical sense, but there’s a window of time close to completion where I really do get that moment of being lost in it and being in flow, but the lead up to that feels impossible at times, it takes serious stamina and hyperfocus.
Then there’s a moment at the very end where you take a step back and see the vision in your head in its physical form and it really hits you where you fall in love with the piece. That’s the moment I’m striving towards with each artwork, it keeps me going with them and that’s the part I really enjoy. There are definitely much easier ways to do what I do but the way I do it is part of what makes it unique and what drives me. I don’t do any sketches or prepare in the typical way, I mean if unsure ill test something on a separate paper of course, but I dive straight into each piece and just freehand copying from the phone or tablet screen. That could go so wrong because a fraction of a millimeter off and it no longer looks like the person you’re drawing or the expression is wrong. It’s the same with the poor reference quality.
But on that note, I do prepare in another way, I watch video especially, either music videos or films and I memorise every detail of the face even the facial expressions, to translate that to my work. I of course look at other photographs too but its video that gives a true depiction. You can really glean features, feelings, quirks, character as well as the physical attributes. Things like skin tone especially, but also wee quirks like spots or scars or lines and textures in the skin. Then I translate that all into the drawing from memory. I’ll do other things too like a google image search for example, to see what 90s dollar bills looked like to draw those in on my Biggie portrait, also the jumper, I image searched those jumpers to get the exact pattern and colours down, the knit patterns used etc, and then there’s a huge element of imagination involved too, like the direction and flow of the individual knit for example, how would that look within folds and creases of the fabric itself? Theres also the fact that you can’t see the eyes in that portrait so how to get the feeling in there without them? So, I enhanced the reflection of the money in the glasses and also the concentrated expression of the face around the lips and brow, not only to convey that feeling but also create a relationship between the cash and eyes, and a focal point too that was concurrent with the theme and Biggies personality. I add these kind of quirks to each individual piece. I even image searched the Versace shades!
There’s no room for error either. I’m very OCD and pedantic but I like to be that way. The physical process itself, especially since I’m new to it is very experimental. I will build layers and layers of pencil, and dissolve with solvent until the paper is fully loaded and it gives a real saturated and realistic look! I will then use a white acrylic to paint the background white, even though the paper itself is white, it tends to absorb the light, so painting it white tends to reflect the light instead and although it’s a minor thing it really makes a huge difference in terms of making the person or animal pop. The finish is a satin UV protective varnish, that just brings out the colours further. The original reference I use as a rough guide too, but I find that even today, photographs just don’t give a true to life depiction, things like shadows and skin tone, the camera picks them up wrong or Photos are heavily edited so I correct a lot of things like skin tone and shadow, just to get it right, make it more alive. I’m obsessed with the pencils too, specifically the professional grade ones (I have hundreds) and the paper, I use only Lightfast pencils and cotton paper, I have to use the very best materials, It’s the same with my prints, they are a slightly smaller exact replica, again archival grade fine art quality. Only the best!”
What is an artist’s role in society and how do you see that evolving?
“That will be different in each and every artist of course, which is what makes us all individual and unique, especially in the contemporary art world, there’s so much diversity that I think it’s a misconception that ‘it’s all been done before’. We have a different way of thinking and seeing the world and then translating it to art. Art has a very powerful voice and way of communicating what it is we need to say and create visual impact. Whether it’s cultural expression or whether it’s creating awareness and highlighting the many societal issues and problems in the world or drawing attention to the preservation of a moment in time or to a memory by fostering empathy. It enhances community engagement and with society and the world itself ever evolving art will grow alongside that and reflect it also, there’s a direct relationship there and creative inspiration can always be drawn, even when times are dark it can even be so simple as something beautiful created for pure aesthetic pleasure, a moment for both artist and viewer to get that break from reality. It’s a way of communicating silently, of expression, of recording history. Even with the emergence and threat of AI taking over, I believe traditional art will always have a place because a human can create such value in art not only through the physical input but that power of raw human emotion and feeling in an artwork that an AI simply cannot because it doesn’t have that raw emotional intelligence that a human person does.”
Have you had any noteworthy exhibitions you'd like to share?
“It was only last December I made the switch from pet portraits to originals and prints, so exhibiting was definitely something I dreamed of doing eventually! When working on Biggie Smalls, I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I had a little pipe dream of the portrait going to Brooklyn, his hometown, somehow. So, I was very pleasantly surprised when the Holy Art Gallery contacted me about their Brooklyn show, and even more impressed that I could have the drawing there at the physical exhibition on digital display as there wouldn’t have been enough time to ship it. So, that really was a super cool experience and not only that but it’s a great way for emerging and established artists to show art around the world. Of course, it’s extra special seeing it in real life, and I’m super excited to explore all the possibilities and opportunities for exhibiting further. I have big big ideas for more work and I’m really only at the start of my journey but I am loving and living for every minute and already making big plans and works in progress for the very near future.”
