I have recently found some time on my hands (at last) to write the concluding part of my inspirations for my Dia de los Meurtos Collection. This has come at a price as I have a nasty little ulcer on my right cornea, a result of a speck of dirt wriggling it's way under my contact lens and becoming rather bothersome. A trip to A&E and 2 types of eye drops should hopefully clear the little bugger up soon. I wear contacts for vanity reasons and vanity, my friends, always seems to come at a price. So between hourly eye drops and several breaks away from the screen (my eye still isn't quite up to staring at a computer screen for hours on end just yet) here we go...
Since I was very small I remember being enthralled by manga and anime. I remember a trip to Brittany when I was about 5 where I was first introduced to anime by way of a french-dubbed cartoon. I couldn't tell you want the cartoon was but the style of drawing was something that I'd never seen before and I was fascinated by it.
Skip forward 6 years and to a slumber party at my best friends house where her older brother introduced me to Akira, a groundbreaking film which pulled anime over into the western mainstream. From that moment on I was obsessed. As a teenager growing up in London I would take myself off to Chinatown to buy Hello Kitty keyrings (this was before it was widely available in every high street shop on everything from bubblegum to children's underwear) and My Melody stationery. I still have some of those original purchases with their original Japanese packaging! 
I'd go to Forbidden Planet to buy Sailor Moon and Urusei Yatsura manga. I loved Chibi Moon and the kawaii-ness of it all. Whilst at university I even wrote my dissertation on the shift of influence between the East and West focusing on anime and manga to argue my point. Let's just say that some of my predictions from 2002 have materialised, you can call me Pythia if you like! :)
As a result of being a fully paid up fangirl from an early age these influences have crept into my work. I've always leaned more towards the abstract but in the last few years I have become more and more influenced by Japanese art and design. One of my big inspirations is vinyl figures - designer toys if you will. One of my favorite books on the subject is Full Vinyl by Ivan Vartanian, a look at the history of the vinyl toy phenomenon featuring some of the most exciting pieces of subversive toy culture. One of my favorite designers is Junko Mizuno (her manga are pretty cool too) although KAWS is a pretty big influence as well.
Another recommended read is RackGaki - Japanese Graffiti by Ryo Sanada and Suridh Hassan. I am a big fan of Esow, Sasu and Tenga featured in this book.
I don't know what it is exactly that I love about all of these designers, artists and images. As a visual person I find it hard to describe exactly what bit I like and where in my work you can see the influence. Instead I'd rather give you the starting points and images to look at and make up your own minds.
Although this is focused at trying to explain the influences behind the Dia de los Muertos collection to be honest these influences will stay with me in all my work, I love them too much to abandon them in pursuit of the next big thing. So expect more tales of weird toys and pretty graphics to feature as time goes by!
Until the next time, sayonara!
DP
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