Easty Beasty, guest artist
Surfers and dragons
We live by the ocean. Almost every day we're at the beach or in the surf. It's a way of life that greatly influences Bask in the Sun and our personal lives. On the other side of the world, Easty Beasty, an Australian artist, shares this sentiment. In a style reminiscent of the Edo period of Japanese art, she draws surfers and free women in blue ink, always with that signature of strange symbols and a red sun representing Huey, the god of surfing. With her, we offer a resolutely original mini-collection inspired by the ocean.
Who are you?
My name is Ella and I work under the name of Easty Beasty as an artist based in Bondi, on the Gadigal lands.
Why did you choose this pseudonym for your artistic career?
Easty Beasty actually comes from my best friend. She used to call me the Beast from the East. While the rest of our group of friends lived in Sydney's inner west, I was the only one living in the east. She gave me this nickname as I began to explore my current style, and I thought the Beast from the East, shortened to Easty Beasty, was a good name for my career as an artist.
In fact, I describe Easty Beasty more as an alter ego than a pseudonym. I think I created this personality to explore this new style, which was so different from what I'd done before. It was almost a safety mechanism, like a mask, that allowed me to play with new ideas and subjects, justified by the fact that it was a whole new identity. This made it easier for me to reconcile these two very different aspects of my personality. I'm not 100% Easty, and Easty isn't 100% me, but describing her as an alter ego helps me harmonize the two.
What are your favourite tools and media? The good old notebook or the digital tablet?
I'm a bit of a purist and traditionalist, so I'll always prefer the physical paper medium with Posca markers, paint and pencils. But I've recently started using an IPad with Procreate and I find it very useful for preparing digital orders such as tattoos or logos. I think digital methods definitely have their place in my process, and I imagine the two will balance out in the future.
There are lots of surfers and sea animals in your drawings, but also cowboys, nude figures, dragons and monsters. Tell us about your often surreal world, your obsessions and your inspirations.
I try to develop an original universe. It starts with real, everyday situations - like friends lounging on a sofa watching TV - and then something very strange happens at the same time. These strange things are depicted as if they were very normal. You get the impression that everyone is in tune with the surreal, almost welcoming it. I like the idea that all my characters are very comfortable with the magical creatures they share their world with. There are certainly elements that have their roots in psychedelic and hallucinogenic experiences in perfectly normal contexts - like having a good time with friends in the garden.
Why don't your characters have faces?
In fact, I have no idea when I made that decision, and I don't really remember why.
I honestly think it came from the fact that I wasn't sure I'd get the facial expression right every time, and as I started leaving them out, I felt it only added to the mystery of the scene. There's so much effort involved in getting the characters' body language exactly right, so I think leaving the faces out encourages people to pay attention to that body language.
You have a very original way of signing your drawings with a red disk and very personal hieroglyphics. What are they?
Les gribouillis rouges sont ce que j’appelle des « déchets cérébraux ». C’est juste une manière cathartique de terminer l’œuvre d’art. Le rouge contraste bien avec le bleu du dessin principal. A l’origine, le disque rouge représentait Huey, le dieu du surf, mais il s’est transformé au fil du temps en tout ce qui est rouge – triangle rouge, carré, fleur, étoile. C’est devenu un détail graphique de la signature.
For Bask in the Sun, you designed a longboarder without a board (!), a discussion between a male character and a mermaid by a pool, and a cowgirl on a shark. Can you tell us about these creations?
These drawings are all about finding the strange in the everyday. Like going to the pool to chat with the local mermaid, and maybe taking a step back from your current situation. The longboard without a board, I'm the one looking at gestures and body language. And the shark with the cowgirl? Actually, I have no idea what happened, it's just an idea that popped into my head. I often feel that I don't have much to say academically about my art, I just draw what makes me feel good.
