We interviewed Vanessa Linares, illustrator and painter, graphic designer and superwoman. An artist with superpowers. Inimitable and inspiring.
The work of Vanessa Linares is intimate, tender, innocent, but sometimes also disturbing. Her big-eyed “worms” are present in most of her paintings and watercolors. Of all sizes, of all colors. Sometimes, they seem human to us; other times, we would not know how to define them. In any case, his work enchants us because it makes us dream, travel and get lost in those beautiful forests.
PLOM: Did you draw as a child? When did you start drawing?
VANESSA: I was so little I don’t even remember. I have 5 older brothers and there was so much noise at home that drawing was the way to create my own world. Since I didn’t have my own room, drawing was the way to build my own space.
SHOP
From Battleship Potemkin to the Carioca rotus…
PLOM: Who introduced you to the art world? Any special person?
VANESSA: My father always liked me to paint and express myself with my markers. And my teacher Enrique, from the first year of high school, was the person who pushed me to pursue a career in Fine Arts. I did my first painting in drawing class while the others were doing exercises. I painted my vision of the Odessa steps from the movie Battleship Potemkin. My teacher was very rationalist and very Russian for everything, and I was the opposite (laughs).
PLOM: Tell us something about your childhood in relation to the art world.
VANESSA: When I was little I always got Carioca markers, Manley crayons, notebooks to draw. My mother had a custom clothing store and I was always making fabric dolls glued with tape because I didn’t know how to sew. I also made my own notebooks and, with my brother Miguel, who is now a journalist, we made newspapers and magazines. He wrote and I drew.
SHOP
VANESSA: I remember it was important for me to go to the Picasso Museum and to a textile printing company. I felt that was what I wanted to do. Finally, the dream is coming true. Lately, I’m making prints on bags and other products, and I love it.
Reading comics, watching movies, wearing cool clothes…
PLOM: Do you believe in the Superpowers of Art? When did you discover that art transforms the world and people?
VANESSA: Well, I think since I was a child. I’ve always felt more comfortable in cultural environments. It’s like everything is cooler if there’s a universal story behind it, a narrative to learn from, a pleasing aesthetic. I think that seeing paintings, reading comics, watching movies, wearing cool clothes : everything is important to live happier and that makes us better people.
PLOM: What is your Superpower?
VANESSA: I would say that my superpower is to make the children have fun creating murals or collages. It always generates a very fun atmosphere of joy. We are all “guspirus” at that moment. I also hope that my drawings and paintings make those who look at them feel at ease and less weird, more connected to the world.
SHOP
PLOM: When and how do you like to work?
VANESSA: I like working with music. More in the morning and afternoon than at night. Sometimes alone and sometimes surrounded by people, like when I was little. I don’t mind the noise too much. As I’m trained, I’m quite abstracted. I’m quite a nerd and it’s easy for me to get into my own world. Painting outdoors is also very cool. I love painting murals, that’s why. Oh, my two cats watch me when I paint and sometimes I can’t paint at home because they step on my watercolors before they are dry and it’s not cool.
When a child likes something of yours…
PLOM: What are you working on right now?
VANESSA: I work on several projects. In terms of design and illustration I take the image of the electric car cooperative Som Mobilat, my coworking mates in Mataró . I also take the image and programming of the libraries of Gavá. As projects that I’m very excited to start I have: production of backpacks with the brand “guspirus”, hand painted ceramics with Rita Lugli, ceramics made in series in Portugal, notebooks and diaries with a factory in Vilassar de Dalt, finish painting a school I started last year … Oh, and a collaboration with the project “I also read” for children with intellectual disabilities.
SHOP
PLOM: Do you think that some of your works may appeal more to children than to adults? Why is that?
VANESSA: My work is intended for all audiences, but it is true that the “guspirus” move in a very minimalist line of flat and intense colors, with sinuous lines and shapes, which usually attracts children.
PLOM: What interests you more: the opinion of an influential critic or that of an 8-year-old child?
VANESSA: I’m very interested in the opinion of an art critic, but when a child likes something of yours and shows it to you… That’s priceless!
Vanessa Linares was born in Barcelona in 1976. She graduated in Fine Arts from the University of Barcelona. She completed her training at Manchester Metropolitan University. She specialized in graphic design. She paints on canvas, on paper, on ceramics and on large walls. His work has been exhibited in dozens of galleries throughout Spain. And also in Paris.
