This weekend, hundreds of artists, illustrators and cartoonists are descending upon the Aotea Centre for Chromacon, an Indie Arts Festival. These are people who draw, paint, illustrate and create, often in their own time, and Chromacon is your opportunity to see (and buy) the fruits of their labours. Here we chat to one featuring artist, Sophie Oiseau, about the important things in life. We have been doing the S dance in her honour ever since.
I’m a collector of books, houseplants and useful-in-the-future art materials but I’m also rapidly running out of space in my studio
My day usually begins with trying to get all the steps for successfully making coffee in the correct order and ends with procrastinating going to bed. I’m a night owl forced to live an early bird lifestyle.
Name your three favourite places in Auckland to eat, drink and play
Eat at Food Alley, I love the murals and it’s cheap and delicious and has tons of variety.
Drink at the Wine cellar or Whammy bar (or both when planets align and they have the middle door open).
Play at Oakley Creek. I’m a newish resident of Mt Albert and I love going for walks down to Oakley Creek, there are many delights including ducks, fantails, eels, pukeko, a waterfall, crumbly ruins, tui, bunnies, a Buddhist temple, a dog training centre and the occasional pheasant to be seen.
Tell us something we’d be surprised to know about you
I travelled across Iran, Pakistan and India when I was 21 and survived two earthquakes in the process.
Pick a book and a park you’d like to read it in, anywhere in the world
I’m currently rereading ‘Oryx and Crake’ by Margaret Atwood, so I’d take that to Spreepark in Berlin, there is an abandoned fairground there, which has the right post-apocalyptic vibe for Atwood’s dystopic future.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your work
I’m an aspiring recluse, I want to just sit in my room and draw but work and friends and gigs are always getting in the way of my plans, gah! I do most of my work in gouache, which is like a ballsier watercolour, it’s lovely and opaque but can be transparent if it needs to be. My latest favourite thing to paint is wrinkly dogs in pastel colours.
What’s the most enjoyable project you’ve worked on?
I really loved working on the illustrations for the ‘Diverse City’ publications for the not-for-profit organisation Changing Minds. I wanted to depict a wide range of people so would pay closer attention to people when I was out and about, looking for characters to add to the images. I like it when the project you’re working on affects the way you see the world or makes you pay closer attention to your surroundings.
What is Chromacon, and why do you think we should go?
Chromacon is a fantastic festival of illustration, comics and the kind of art that you don’t need a degree in mid twentieth century French philosophy to enjoy. You should go because it will be a smorgasbord of visual delights, you can witness reclusive illustrators awkwardly trying to talk to people and it’s free!
Name three other artists that will be at Chromacon that you will be looking out for.
I’m a big fan of Rebecca ter Borg so will be good to see her and her work, also I’ll be looking out for Anna Johnstone and Jacky Ke Jiang.
If everyone in the world had a theme song that played when they walked into a room, what wouldyours be and why?
‘The Safety Dance’ by Men Without Hats because in the video they do a dance where they make a S with their arms. It looks totallyridiculous but I’ve co-opted it and sometime bring it out at parties ( aka The Sophie Dance).
You can find Chromacon at the Aotea Centre on the 18th and 19th of April from 10am-5pm. More info here.