Nicole Kenney

Nicole Kenney's introspective, highly personal illustrations are so damn fine and detailed we thought in this profile we'd link them to high-rez versions so you could get up close to her work.  In other words, click to enlarge.

Chief Magazine got up close and personal with Nicole at her Brooklyn apartment to figure out exactly how she developed her unabashed comic-like style.



Chief Magazine: You’re from Atlanta. What was it like growing up in the south?

Nicole Kenney: In the south. Well, it’s home and I love my family. I love the summers and I love the neighborhood pool. But, it was, now looking back, kind of like growing up in a bubble. An upper-middle class, white Catholic bubble. There’s not a whole lot of culture, and there’s not like a whole lot of, you know, like skiing or surfing or anything. It’s just kind pretty normal.

And then you went to Notre Dame and studied psychology?

And art, yeah.

And art. And how did those two come together?

Well, I studied psychology and art because that’s just two things I really liked, and that I found interesting. I’d been drawing since I was a little girl. When I was little I said I wanted to be an animator. And I’d draw Garfield. And psychology was more my interest in getting to know how people tick. They were very different for a while, I think, the two interests. But then toward the end they started coming together. I did my visual thesis on body image and how girls perceive themselves. I handed out a lot of surveys and so that came together, the psychology and the art. And then I guess a lot of my work is kind of journaling, if that’s psychology, that brings the two together. Trying to understand myself sometimes.

But it started with drawing Garfield when you were a kid? Were you into comics?

Well, no. I wasn’t into comics, more like cartoons on TV. I used to tape The Simpsons and I’d pause it and try and draw Bart. No, I never really liked comics, like the superhero kind, but I liked cartoons on TV.

Your work is pretty personal and autobiographical.  Has it always been like that?  How did that develop?

Well, in college, the body image thesis started off because I had my own issues with my body image. And I guess that kind of started everything, because at first I was going to do a thesis on, something political that was removed from myself. Then I went to my thesis advisor and I was like, “I have this idea. I was looking in the mirror this morning, and I was disgusted with what I saw. But I know I’m not that bad.” And… anyway, I was like, “Don’t tell anyone.” Eventually he got me to pursue this topic and it just felt really, really good and cathartic. And I noticed that other girls really responded to my thesis and would come up to me and tell me how much they were affected by it.

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And that’s how the über-personal aspect of your illustrations came about?

Yeah. And I guess I’m just most affected by art that is personal. I mean, I guess all art is. I love Robert Crumb’s work. I think that he puts his craziest, most perverted self down on paper, and he doesn’t care what people think. I love that. And I like Juliet Bordo. I don’t think anyone knows her but she’s an illustrator and I just like how she puts things down on paper.

No, I don’t know her. Who else? Who else do you like?

I just keep saying I love Robert Crumb. I find him really inspiring. But a lot of comics I just don’t end up being drawn to. There’s this—I don’t know if you’ve heard of it—it’s called Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. She grew up in Iran during the revolution. And she does a graphic novel about it from a child’s point of view. And I loved that. I loved how personal that was. And It’s not even really the style, ‘cause I don’t… I’m not even totally crazy about Robert Crumb’s style. It’s just more like how he puts himself down on paper. And even her.

The Boys in My Life or The Girls in My Life… are these comics? Are these illustrations? Stories?  What light do you place them in?

I don’t know. When I did The Boys, I guess I had it all gridded in my head forever. ‘Cause that’s kind of how I think. You can see it in some different ones I did, like the Heirlooms one I have in my bathroom, or all the stuff I brought to Europe. It’s all gridded in my head. So, I guess that’s kind of how I think. I didn’t sit down to do a comic. I just wanted to kind of draw everybody, and the way it kind of came together and was organized someone said, “That looks like a comic.” And I was like, “Okay.” But I didn’t sit down to do a comic.

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Yeah. It just came out…

It just kind of came out that way.

Which did you do first though?

Between boys and girls? I did the boys first. And then I was like, “Okay, I got all my boys done; I should probably thank my girlfriends.”  So I did one about the girls. And then, after I got all the boys done on paper, I started dating Brett, who’s great, and I felt like I should have him down on paper too, to be complete.

This came about because you were just feeling nostalgic or, you said, you wanted to thank them?

For the boys, well, it was the characters issue of Fab Magazine. And I kind of got this idea to draw my ex-boyfriends, and I thought it’d be really fun. So I guess it kind of came out because the opportunity for a project was there so I did it. And then people responded positively to that one, and then Pseudo Magazine asked me to make another comic, and that’s when I decided to do the girls. Usually I kind of have to have the deadline of like, a project, or a gallery opening, and then I put stuff together, but it helps me to be self-motivated if I have a deadline.

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And what kind of stuff are you working on these days?

I did an illustration about when Brett made me dinner and I ate it in the tub…Um…It’s kind of corny, but… Brett’s at yoga camp for a month and we’re keeping sketchbooks for each other. So I’m trying to draw in it every couple of days, like a journal.

Do you usually keep a journal?

I’ve kept journals since I was pre-pubescent. I have tons of them at home in Atlanta, and here. It’s funny; when I’m in happy relationships I don’t keep them as much. So if anyone ever read them, they’d see all my depression. I think I make a lot more when I’m not in a happy relationship. So that’s why I haven’t been too productive!

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So what’s up with that, on a more psychological angle?

I don’t know. Well, I think I have more free time and, I kind of put my love into the relationship when I’m in one. And when I’m not I put the love into making art. I don’t want it to be like that. I wish I made more art all the time.

Do you think that’s just the nature of the beast?

Kind of, ‘cause it’s definitely not a decision I’m making in my head. And I’m still making stuff, just not as much. At Fabrica I would work during the day and I’d stay there till, what, we could stay till ten or something? I’d just stay till ten making that Boys illustration or whatever. And then once I started dating Brett, I dropped Italian lessons and started making
dinner with him and stuff.

You were at Fabrica for, what, a year and a half?

Fourteen months.

Fourteen months. What was that like?

I loved it. After Notre Dame I came to New York and I worked at a job I didn’t like too much. And my goal was Fabrica, because I wanted to live abroad and work in that creative environment. So I put all my energy into applying and doing the trial and everything, and I got there and I loved it. It was great the whole time. I loved how I grew. I became more of an illustrator being there, getting opportunities to make stuff that would get published, and you know, having encouragement and that kind of thing. I met you! I met some great people. Yeah, it was good. I think by the end I was a little over it. I don’t know if it was… I don’t know if you maybe felt the same. But we were working on a lot of Benetton, corporate stuff, and I didn’t feel like I had as much time to make fun illustrations for Fab Magazine, ‘cause that had been cancelled, and I was moving on, thinking of doing art therapy, which I didn’t end up doing. But, I think I was kind of ready to go at the end. But I still miss it and kind of question if I should have left.

But then you moved back to New York. And you were initially going to go back to school for art therapy?

Well, art therapy. I guess I was putting my two interests together again. And, um… thinking it would be a good next step, it would be fulfilling to be an art therapist. But I decided I didn’t want to go into that much debt. I wanted to forge my own way. And also give myself more of a chance to be an illustrator, because I think If I was going into social work I would be cutting off my opportunity to be more of an artist and illustrator. So I just decided to let things roll as they would, and not spend all this money on school and make myself go down that track right now. And I feel really good about not going back.  

You’ve done some other work about women’s roles in society.  

You mean like with the church? The street art?

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Yeah, exactly.

That’s also kind of a self-portrait of growing up within the church and then kind of realizing that it wasn’t for me.

Your parents were taking you to church… every Sunday?

My mother.

And then, what, you hit puberty and decided you weren’t into it?

Well, it took me awhile. She brought us to church, and then she had me go to a Catholic high school when I was really happy with my neighborhood high school.

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She kind of always pushed that. It was kind of all I knew and there were things about it that I liked, like going on retreats and just getting out of your everyday life, and really getting to know the people on retreats, and getting in nature and stuff like that.

I even went to Notre Dame but it was more because it was the best school I could get into, so I wanted to go to a really good college. So I ended up going there. The more I learned, the more I realized there was so much more out there, and the more I decided that Catholicism wasn’t for me. And then on a retreat at Notre Dame, I decided I wasn’t Catholic anymore, and I felt so good. And then I came back, and I was like, “I’m not Catholic anymore and I’m so fine with that.”

But were a whole lot of your friends Catholic?

Yeah, I was never dogmatic, and none of my friends were ever dogmatic, like, “Do you believe in Jesus? You’re going to hell.”

Sure.

Yeah. It was my community.

And now, do you consider yourself an agnostic?

I guess I think that there’s probably a greater power out there and I’m not really sure what it is. But that’s about all I can say. I’m kind of anti-organized religion. After being inside of it and seeing how people don’t think outside the box, it made me bounce to the other side of the spectrum and be a little more anti-it.

And your mom?

Oh, she’s still Catholic. I recently told her I wasn’t Christian and she was pretty upset.

Really.

She didn’t know I guess.

And my dad’s always been open. He went to a Unitarian church for awhile but only for, like, kind of a sense of community after they got divorced.

So was there a moment, either growing up, or maybe in college, or at Fabrica or something, where it was like, “Yeah, this is what I want to be doing. This is it; illustration is the game for me?”

I think I’ve always loved drawing, and then for a while, especially at the college, I didn’t feel like I was any good. I felt like people were much better than I was. Even at Fabrica, my first illustration was for Internazionale Magazine. I had to illustrate the recipe section, and Omar would pick someone different every couple months. And then we talked about me doing it and I was really nervous. I was like, “Okay, I’ll try it, I’ll just make it work somehow. If I have to, like, collage photos or something, something witty…you know, I’ll figure out something.” So that was my first illustration project, and he was really encouraging. And once I kind of got in the groove of doing that every week, I got to feel more comfortable and found my own way of illustrating. And then through the Fab Magazines, I started doing different projects, and I felt like they turned out all right. So yeah, I guess it was a slow process, but at Fabrica, I got more confidence in being an illustrator and kind of turned into one, I guess.

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And now you’re back in Brooklyn?

Yup. Doing some more.

Website

www.nicolekenney.com

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