Vivienne Flesher is a contemporary artist born in Brooklyn and currently resides in San Francisco. After Flesher graduated from Parsons, she thought her portfolio wasn’t presentable enough so she did paste-ups and mechanicals for Atlantic Monthly and Swank.
She recalls interesting experiences, stories of her grandfather and her time at Swank magazine are all wild journeys. Like when her grandfather was asked to join the mob, or how she quit Swank magazine because she walked in to her bosses office after they had sex.
“There was a nude woman present. He introduced us rather matter-of-factly and as the woman and I shook hands I thought about what nastiness might be on that hand of hers.”. qtd Robert Newman, Illustrator profile – Vivienne Flesher.
Yikes.
Flesher being a phenomenal painter, her choice of medium varies from charcoal and pastel, with the use of Photoshop to touch up her illustrations. Her artwork varies from her charcoal/pastel drawings and her psychedelic collages. Flesher would often mix her collages with her drawings, creating complex and beautiful illustrations as featured in her editorial works.
Her “break” into the industry came in the form of the very first American Illustration annual, when they featured dozens of pieces in the magazine. Clients shortly followed after the publication.
Nice.
Overall I quite like her works and personality. She seems like a very humble and nice lady, and her stories of her past seem really funny and interesting. Being successful with her contributions to magazines, Flesher will always be there to create her multi-textural illustrations.
Her advice for “people starting out”: Buy lot’s of real estate!
Nice advice! I do agree also, however I live in Vancouver, Canada, one of the most expensive places in the world so….. I’ll do my best.
Links:
https://www.ai-ap.com/publications/article/14852/illustrator-profile-vivienne-flesher-my-influe.html
http://zeitgeist-art.com/vivienne-flesher
http://artbistro.monster.com/education/articles/3418-interview-with-vivienne-flesher?page=4
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