Interview
Emmanuel León
Emmanuel León is an Illustrator who specializes in creating detailed digital and oil painting illustrations. He is able to create surface pattern designs, and lifestyle illustrations inspired by fashion and surrealism. He is an SVA graduate since 2023.
What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?
“I was born in Tampa Florida, but my parents moved to Venezuela 6 months after I was born. Being raised there, we experienced a lot of struggles because of the rising political and economic tensions, but art was always a way for me to escape all of these hardships. I was always doodling on my notebooks and I expressed my creativity through making plasticine figurines, this is my earliest memory of creating art. When I was in high school, due to political protests, my family was forced to stay at home for several weeks. It was during this time that I started to make pencil portraits of people I admired, and this made me realize I wanted to pursue a career in the arts. I moved to New York City in February 2017 to go to college; I went to Hudson County Community College for Computer Arts. Here, I learned to use computer software to create artwork, it was also here that I took a painting class and my whole perspective my artistic practices expanded. I then decided I wanted to pursue illustration as a major, so I transferred to the School of Visual Arts in New York City to where I obtained my Bachelor's degree in illustration.”
What inspires you?
”I am inspired by fashion, Drag and pop culture. I especially like fashion as a means of self expression, I am drawn to designers that aren’t preoccupied with being classic or sophisticated or technically refined, but instead explore fashion through maximalist aesthetics, theatrical concepts, and experimental practices, to me this takes their work to a whole different level, and I think that is why I love Drag so much as well, because Drag queens also incorporate everything I mentioned before, and they use all these different forms of expression to make a performance that goes deeper than just what you see with your eyes. and that is also an aspect that I want my artwork to reflect. I wholeheartedly believe in the saying ‘more is more.’”
What themes do you pursue? Is there an underlying message in your work?
“I like exploring fashion and pop culture through my work and I incorporate that in my illustrations as much as possible. I also like to treat these concepts in a satirical way, I find humor to be a very effective resource when I am trying to convey a narrative.”
How would you describe your work?
“I would describe it as whimsical, surreal, colorful and campy. I like to be very illustrative and I find joy bending reality to explore multiple possibilities in an artistic realm. I am particularly drawn to over the top aesthetics. I am looking to always make things look interesting through color; if it is not color, then shape; if it isn't shape, it has to be texture. I think of my work like a piece of performance, there has to be a storyline involved that draws the viewer in to examine the work a little closely and hopefully be entertained by the story and find some easter eggs which is I find a fun thing to incorporate when working on my art.”
Which artists influence you most?
“If I have to pick artists that have influenced me a lot, I definitely have to say surrealist painters, more specifically Salvador Dalí and Giorgio De Chirico. I admire Dalí's ability to play with reality in such a clever way, and De Chirico's eerie yet melancholic atmosphere depicted in his paintings. In the contemporary art scene is Saint Hoax, because of his pop culture inspired paintings and satirical sense of humor, and also Sarah Slappey, because of her well defined painting style. I also have to mention some fashion designers such as Alexander McQueen, Iris Van Herpen, and Betsey Johnson.”
“I like to be very illustrative and I find joy bending reality to explore multiple possibilities in an artistic realm.”
What is your creative process like?
“Sometimes inspiration strikes me like lightning and I develop from there. Other times when I am given a prompt or a concept I start looking at references to come up with several ideas until I find one that feels correct for the project. First, I make a sketch with pencil to get a rough draft. I build from there before I transfer to the medium I want it to be displayed, even if it is going to be digital I still begin on pencil and paper, there is something about this medium for building ideas that works best for me. At this stage I am thinking ‘what can I do to to engage the viewer? What easter egg can I incorporate? Who or what can I reference to enhance the idea or concept displayed in this piece?’ Once I have a final sketch, I go into the painting process, I start by transferring the sketch onto the canvas for a painting, then I do an underpainting with acrylics and in this process sometimes I add or subtract more ideas. To me, the sketch always keeps evolving as I continuously work on it, and then I finish with oils on top when I want my pieces to feel more dimensional.”
What is an artist’s role in society and how do you see that evolving?
“I think art is a very important aspect of our shared humanity. We as humans have been doing art before we developed writing systems as a way to not only communicate, but also to express ourselves. because this means of expression is a universal way of communicating. Nobody needs to speak a specific language to be able to appreciate a painting or feel something when looking at it. As an artist, I consider our role more than ever is not just to be communicators but also inspiration for other people in a world that is constantly changing and a society that spawns countless amounts of struggles. I love that artists more than ever are encouraged to incorporate social and political messaging if it is their desire, which I consider something beautiful. At the same time the fact that there is so much freedom for artists to make their work whatever they want it to be is very encouraging. In the nature of humans there is so much art in this world, everybody is able to find something that speaks to them and that speaks to my statement that art is a universal language.”
Have you had any noteworthy exhibitions you'd like to share?
“My first exhibition was when I did my final project for my Associate degree in Jersey city where I had two pieces. I also had my Junior Project on college at SVA at an online gallery. I also had the opportunity to exhibit my work at Sojourner Coffee in Harlem, and recently I had the opportunity to exhibit at Saint Marks Arts in NYC for their Future Capsule Show.”
