PICTURES FROM THE SUBCONSCIOUS: LUCY NURNBERG

Coming Events Cast their Shadows Before. Artwork by Lucy Nurnberg

Lucy is from London and moved to New York just few months ago: she’s a young illustrator and though she started her profession recently, Computer Arts and Wallpaper magazine both featured her work, so keep an eye out for her next moves!

Could you briefly summarize your career?
I graduated from Brighton only this year, so I’d like to think my illustration career is only just beginning, but I’ve been lucky enough to work on some really nice things since then. Right now I’m also working as an assistant to the illustrator Laurie Rosenwald, which is a great experience, we’re working on some really cool animations together.

Occultism, Death, Religion are recurring themes in your work, has it always been like this or is it something that you increasingly focused on?
It’s something I’ve always been interested in, but I’ve only been conscious of how much those themes influence my work in the past couple of years. I’ve always been literary-minded, and I think the narratives of mythology and religion are the most fascinating on earth; I’m into the stories that people believe in, the magic that lies behind everything in life.

The Seven Seals of Revelation. Artwork by Lucy Nurnberg

Who are the artists who inspired your work?
I look at a lot of art based on religion, mythology, the occult and anything that’s got a heavy symbolism, from classic Christian iconography to the aesthetics of Freemasonry, Buddhist/Hindu mandalas, the Tarot.

Could you tell us more about your collaboration with Rowan Powell for the cover redesign of Big Science by Laurie Anderson?
The Big Science project was a university-led brief, illustration and graphics students were told to pair up and art-direct a redesign of one of five records. Rowan and I had worked together on some stuff before, she’s a great friend and I trust her design sense absolutely, so it was great to be able to work together.
We both love Laurie Anderson, although I found it pretty daunting at first because I think the original artwork for Big Science is completely brilliant, so weird and beautiful.
We spent hours in the video library; playing, re-recording and photographing 80s programs about technology and plane crashes through tiny VCR monitors. I’m really proud of the video we made for it, although I was definitely a little scared the next time I went on a flight.

A Geography of Death serie. Artwork by Lucy Nurnberg

What is the role played by chance while creating your artworks?
A huge one. Working in collage, I try not to plan my illustrations too much, otherwise it’s impossible to try and find the perfect picture of a goat or whatever it is I’ve got in mind. When I start working on something I’ll look at my archive and then head to a library and search for things that could be on-theme, but it’s all chance of what happens to catch my eye at the time. So often I’ll look back and realize that some massive part of my illustration is something I’ve subconsciously placed there because of something I happen to have passed a lot on my walk home that week, which is very surreal.
Also I like to work late-nights when my mind has shut off a bit, I just play with things until I’m happy with the meaning and the aesthetic, so it’s all very subconscious.

What was your best exhibition experience? Why?
Oh, that’s hard. Maybe a Diane Arbus exhibition I saw at the V&A when I was about 18. Reading what she wrote about her subjects, these figures on society’s margins with whom she was totally obsessed, it really changed how I thought about a lot of things. These outsiders were totally fascinating to her; she painted them as fictional characters in her own vision of a mystical within everyday society.

A Geography of Death serie. Artwork by Lucy Nurnberg

What is the most interesting place you’ve ever travelled to?
I’m lucky enough to have travelled to a lot of incredible places. Maybe my favourite holiday ever was going to Mexico when I was only about six but I still remember it vividly. I’m hugely into Mexican folk art and culture, the colours, the rituals – I really want to go back for Day of the Dead – next year hopefully.

Who is the woman you’d like to see featured / interviewed here?
Karin Dreijer Andersson.