Agathe Singer Talks Self Expression Through Art, Freelance & The Beauty of Illustration
We recently stumbled upon an artist by the name of Agathe Singer whose style gave us such as a soothing and refreshing feel; prompting us to reach out to illustrator to delve more into her world of art. What even intrigued us even more was her background of her being “a seaside girl” as she calls it (born in Normandie, grew up in Bretagne) but currently living in Paris. The geographical difference excited us to hear this young lady’s perspective and her infatuation with using art for expression and therapy. She was also kind enough to create 3 exclusive illustrations to pair with this interview. They can seen throughout reading the dialogue that we engaged. We hope you enjoy this new interview brought to you by The Blooming Union.
TBU: Hello Agathe, pleasure speaking to you today. Before we dive in, describe yourself as a person, artist and the combination of that duality?
Agathe: Hello! Thank you so much for having me. My name is Agathe Singer, I’m a 34-year old French illustrator living in Paris. I’ve always loved to draw and paint though as a kid I never pictured myself doing it for a living. But I’ve been a freelancer in illustration for the last ten years and my work is my passion - it does sometimes take too much space in my life but at the same time it fills me with joy and excitement every day.
TBU: Through your various illustrations, it’s clear that you’re very talented and trained in it. Did you study this in school or were you self-taught? Or was it a combination of both?
Agathe: I studied art and graphic design, first in an art school where they were giving us a taste for experimentation, painting and color; then one where I was taught art direction with a major in graphic design and typography. When I finished school I started working as a graphic design in advertisement and I was not drawing, nor painting much anymore. After some years I began to draw again to fight a bit of depression - and it worked so well that I quickly decided to put up together a portfolio and look for projects as a freelance illustrator.
My parents have always been freelancers so I knew the freedom that it would bring me and I loved it immediately.
It was a fair bit of work and self-teaching though as I had very little idea of what the job would really be - looking for projects and at the same time developing my own style, dealing with negotiations and contracts. Instagram helped a lot with that as there is an amazing community of illustrators willing to support and help each other.
TBU: From the shapes to the colors to the symbolism, what’s your favorite aspect about creating and why?
Agathe: I love colors, trying combinations of tones, playing with contrasts and color blocks. That’s one of my favorite parts in creating a painting. I also love playing with shapes, trying to find the perfect gesture and the balance between the simplicity and the amount of details that work together to finish a painting.
I used to start a painting directly without sketching and see where I would go with it; but now I like to prepare a drawing and think thoroughly of the composition, the space to leave for the background, how to work over the subject to its most simple shape. When that’s all in place on my page I like to have fun with the patterns and the details such as to making a cat’s mustache fill a blank space as if it had a life of its own.
I like to paint different subjects the same way: starting with a main shape (a body, a flower’s corolla), completed by other colorful smaller ones, a contrasted background, finishing with darker lines. I love to paint a woman as I would paint a flower or a bird.
TBU: Illustration is your speciality but are there any other mediums of art you may experiment with or are interested in pursuing in the future?
Agathe: If I would to have a bigger studio someday I would love to work on canvas and bigger paintings. Also experimenting more with printing techniques like silkscreen and risography.
TBU: We’re sure due to the different environment that you live in (Paris) you have distinct inspirations. Could you tell us some of those and how each may inspire you uniquely?
Agathe: Paris is an amazing city to live in though it is not all easy here - lack of space and places to live… but after 17 years now I’m still in love with it and keep finding it full of inspiring views. I love those rooftops in all nuances of blue and the Eiffel Tower at night. During the lockdown here I started to paint the views from my flat, at different angles and different lights. It’s so intricate; a complicated urban landscape. You can see the top of trees from the tiny backyards and the terraces. There are micro spots of nature in between stones and blue slate.
In my painting I’m not so much inspired by the city, but more-so surrounded by it. In this busy, loud and urban environment I’m inspired to create a world of my own - my piece of garden. I look a lot at books or the internet to find inspiring fauna and flora from all around the world. I love the story about the Douanier Rousseau, who’s said to have never left his village near Paris, but yet has painted those amazing jungles and exotic views.
TBU: What are some tendencies and lessons that art have taught you?
Agathe: That it takes a lot of work and constant practice, that it is easy to fall into habits or to get stuck into a favorite topic which can make you lazy. It’s good to get uncomfortable sometimes, trying new subjects and going where you didn’t expected to. Sometimes good surprises come out of with - or a bad series of paintings which is also ok.
TBU: What are the goals with your art? And how have you seen its impact not only in the art world but in the lives of others?
Agathe: Quite selfishly, I paint firstly for myself and what’s make me happy but I’ve seen my work can have a very joyful impact on people. If one of my pieces can brighten someone’s day, I guess that’s a fine goal to me.
TBU: Can you tell us about any future projects we can look out for?
Agathe: I’m excited about the release in July of Lindsey Tramuta’s new book which I got to create illustrations and cover lettering for. ‘The New Parisienne: The women & ideas Shaping Paris’, aims to debunk the myth of the white-tall-skinny French-girl by interviewing 50 amazing women who are making and changing the city. I was asked to create a series of portraits to illustrate the chapters - the creators, the visionaries, the disruptor. It was quite a challenge and I can’t wait to see it out.
Thank you Agathe for a wonderful interview and please make sure to check out her work on Instagram and also her personal portfolio website here: https://www.agathesinger.com
Lastly if you’re new to our website, check out our other interviews and also our cookbook which we self published, self designed, and self wrote! https://www.thebloomingunion.com/products