Ethos: a dialogue with Amy Blue at The Other Art Fair
The most pronounced detail of The Cutaway, a sandstone crypt housing Sydney’s most recent iteration of The Other Art Fair, is its height. Monumental concrete pillars tower above the hundreds that flit between the artist’s densely-packed stalls. It seems near-paradoxical that an underground space ensconced in concrete and stone insists so fiercely upon air — volumes of it stretch upwards by several metres above our heads, burnished by the mid-afternoon sun.
Amy Blue’s stall defies this.
Several prospective buyers crowd around the artist’s stall. They do not need the ample space to appreciate her work, to run their fingers across acrylic block art or peruse prints that celebrate childhood toys and French cheese. As Amy is approached for the interview, they tenderly package an artwork for a customer, smiling warmly as they depart.
Amy Blue is an illustrator based in Sydney who codifies pop culture into art for queer communities, focusing on nostalgia and ordinary objects.
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Amy Blue by their stall. Image Credit: The Other Art Fair.
Lameah: Can you walk me through your art-making process? How does a piece go from just a concept in your mind to a finished, tangible product?
Amy: It’s kind of a hard question. It's like, trying to articulate my brain and all of the things that are going on in my head. Basically, I have a series called 50 Up and that is where I will take a topic and then draw it fifty times. So, I’m a little bit manic and obsessive — just obsessive of one topic — and that’s kind of the process. And when making that into a product, there’s creating prints and stickers. I’ve got one called 50 Up: Cheese. There’s the fancy French cheese, there’s also Black & Gold cheese, and you know, that American spray cheese. It’s got all of the classes of cheese.
50 Up: Cheese by Amy Blue. Image credit: Amy Blue.
L: Who are some artists that inspire you? Have you ever looked at other mediums for inspiration, like music or literature?
A: I think the things that inspire me the most are definitely music and movies, queer culture. They’re things that can give more — I suppose — broad levels of inspiration, not particular people if that makes sense. I think I’m inspired by the queer community — like I literally make my work for them, that’s where most of my inspiration comes from. Just like being out on a dancefloor or at a pub with close friends, that kind of thing.
L: One way you've characterised your art is by saying you like to “take mainstream references and contextualise them for queer eyes”. Can you tell me a bit more about that?
A: Yeah, so I'm a queer person and for as long as I’ve been able to remember I’ve been queer. My mum was a lesbian, so I grew up with women and knew my identity quite early on. I was born in 1985, so growing up I had a harder time with homophobia and growing up in schools and a town with lots of ignorant mindsets around sexuality and having to keep my identity and sexuality hidden. We all learnt to speak in code, you know? That’s sort of where this started. There’s this really beautiful unspoken language that we use to communicate to each other. I really like making art, and heterosexual people can buy it and that’s all good, but it’s like this secret world and, I don’t know, I really love speaking through that.
L: Which of your works do you think best conveys that?
A: The more sexual pieces like Kweer Mart where a Polly Waffle becomes a ‘polyamorous’, a Diet Coke becomes a Dyke Coke. They’re kind of crass and a bit silly but still are subtextual and funny.
50 Up: Kweer Mart by Amy Blue. Image credit: Amy Blue.
L: Speaking of humor, a lot of your works have a strong focus on humor and nostalgia. Were there any key moments in your life that kind of dictated why you focus on those qualities?
A: When I was like, I think eight or nine, the first job I ever wanted was to be a comedian, and I would always try to make all my aunts and family laugh. Then, I wanted to be a shopkeeper and I wanted to be one so much that people had to call me ‘shopkeeper’ as a name. I think I've kind of inadvertently done that by the way that I sell my wares online and at markets like I am a shopkeeper of my own work. And it has elements of humour, so I kind of lived out the dreams I had when I was little in a way. It kind of stemmed from a very young age. And then just drawing — we all start life drawing. Some of us just stop drawing. So my work has just been a continuation of that. I just didn't stop.
L: I guess that’s what can also bring in those themes of youth and nostalgia.
A: Yeah, yeah.
L: This is my own personal observation, but I feel like a lot of your artwork has elements of pop art. You utilise a lot of noticeable brands, but also some fictional characters, especially in your Per Diem project. What kind of place do you think pop culture should occupy in the realm of art?
A: It's difficult because with those series that I do, there's the whole legality around them like, are you allowed to use this image? Are you allowed to reproduce this? But pop culture is so deeply ingrained in Western society anyway, it's like something that literally raises us and something that we all identify with. Particular bits of our personality are shown through what movies we like, what music we like. So, I think it's definitely a great thing to be involved with in the art world, but there is a lot of contention with that. A lot of artists think it cheapens something. I think there are some examples of it being done not well, and it does look cheap, but I think it is an important part of the conversation. It’s an important part of what we’re all talking about.
L:You could say there’s a tendency to introduce hierarchies into the world of art where it isn’t always necessary. Sometimes we should just be appreciating art and finding joy in it for what it is.
A: Exactly.
L: I wanted to focus a bit on your 50 Up series, which features Nike sneakers to the cheeses that you mentioned earlier. How do you determine which ordinary objects are ‘worth’ illustrating? Is it a matter of seeing the inherent beauty of these things, or are you just trying to capture the simple pleasures of life?
A: I mean, I think it's different for each topic. So, with the cheese, I was really conscious of making sure I wasn't just doing the French fancy cheese, but I wanted to make sure that the ‘lower class’ cheese was in there too because it is kind of a class system. And with the 90's toys, those were things that I remember playing with and wanting because we weren’t really wealthy, but having them was a dream that I had. I didn't really focus too much on the class system of that one. Some of them are self-portraits, like self-portraits for me and my personality. I also try to talk to other people, and they see themselves in that work as well and they connect.
L: In relation to your work, what's a philosophy that you live by?
A: I think my main philosophy is accessibility. A lot of people tell me to bring my prices up. But I know what it’s like to be poor and struggling, so, I think my main philosophy is to make sure that I'm as accessible as I can be, but also not taking it too seriously as well. There’s definite meaning behind it, but it can be light and it can be just fun.
L: And as an artist, what's a philosophy that you want to impart on others?
A: If anything, especially with this cost of living climate, to anyone who’s struggling and trying to be an artist, just keep doing it. I know it’s hard, but it’s so worth it.
To get in contact with Amy Blue and see more of their work:
Instagram: @amyblueillustration