Passionate Youth. The Youth is the
future, and if that youth is passionate and inspired, you can be sure that this
future will be bright. That is why we decided to grant some space on Incognito
to young people as passionate as we are.
Ieva Ku is the first one we selected
and we hope you will be blown away by the passion she puts in what she does.
Incognito: Ieva Ku, please tell us: who are you?
Ieva Ku: My name is Ieva and my last name is
too difficult to pronounce to any living creature so I use only KU which sounds
Chinese! I am 20 years old. Originally I come from Lithuania where I grew up
and became who I am, but with my dreams and ambitions that country is too small
and narrow minded so now I'm living in
London where I study illustration for a second year and do any possible
illustration work I can find.
Incognito: What do you mean by “Lithuania
is too small and narrow minded”?
Ieva Ku: Well… people
are really old fashioned and narrow minded in Lithuania; it's difficult to achieve
anything there. It's like you have to be a normal middle class citizen working to
earn some money, be quiet and modest and live the life you are SUPPOSED to
live. It's very not for me. Well in first place I couldn't survive there with
an illustrators degree in any ways and second my sexual orientation makes it
impossible to live in that country. Sad, I hope it'll change some day
Incognito: In what conditions do you usually work?
Ieva Ku: As I'm studying and have a GREAT, AMAZING,
INCREADIBLE studio at university I spend most of my time there. Sitting in
classrooms full of artistic people inspires me, it has some spirit of art or
whatever. And of course I benefit from all the facilities I can use and the lecturers
who are always available to help. But when I work for myself I do it at home. I
don't like any light but my table lamp, my tea resources are everlasting and
yah of course music is something I couldn't work without.
Incognito: What do you listen to then ?
Ieva Ku: It depends on what I'm drawing and in
what mood I am...Tegan and Sara or UH HUH HER mostly these days though I have
to admit yesterday I was listening to DEV all day long. I mean Dev is more like
party music and not for listening in background but ow well I'm a pretty boring
person so when I draw I make my pencils dance on the paper instead of doing it
myself on the dancefloor
Incognito: Show us one of your favourite illustrations of yours.
Ieva Ku: My favourite one is stuck in the progress
since summer but one day I WILL finish it. But actually, whenever I finish a drawing it always become my favourite as I can mesure my improvement through it. There is one that I just love
with no particular reason. It just makes me feel so....calm when I look at it.
And I'm a pretty melancholic person so it represents me behind all the masks I
have to wear every day. I like it technically as well, pretty bold and understandable
Incognito: What are your inspirations ?
Ieva Ku: I get inspired very easily, everyday, like I can see some interesting people in the streets or hear a bit of strange conversation, or nice peace of music...I get inspired by all the things surrounding me... okay sounds great now but let's be honest, I have a confession to make: 70% of the time I'm inspired by pretty girls, hahahaha.
My all times most favourite illustrator is MARK RYDER, he's just....WOW... Also I'm often inspired by Natalie Shau, I love all her works don't really have favourite one, and the fact that she is lithuanian and so famous all over the world gives me so much hope ! I adore Conrad Roset's works, Mapache Salado's... Otherwise I mostly get shocked by not so famous young illustrators doing such AMAZING WORK!
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| Sophia's Bubble, Mark Ryder - Ieva's favorite painting |
Ieva Ku: This painting was exhibited in tokio and is only
one of the paintings he did for ''The Snow Yak Show exhibition'' I found it most interesting as I
was always pretty interested in female cult in society and feminism and
whatever and even though I'm not sure what exactly Ryder wanted to say by this
peace but I interpret it myself as woman being the one who gives birth, creates
a new life and in these bubbles you can see many different images which can be
understood differently and everybody can use their own imagination to tell what
exactly that is.... if it makes any sense, but I just find this peace really
deep and powerful, very symbolic and twisted.
Incognito: You know that Incognito is a cultural blog but also a fashion blog. What
is your fashion style ?
Ieva Ku: I DO! Well I'm not very fashionable myself at
the moment as I don't have enough money to buy loads of clothes and stuff but
I'm trying to look as original as possible and I'm often in lookbook just to
check how people dress and get some ideas. Actually I even considered doing
fashion illustrations, having in mind my passion to draw pretty girls.
Incognito: Describe us an outfit you’d wear and a piece of clothing you really
like.
Ieva Ku: Basically, I wear
jeans shorts every day with black leggings and kneehigh socks and just got an
AMAZING blouse with some really cool illustration. Also my huge scarf and large
glasses are pieces I never separate myself from.
Ieva and I met by chance. As if we were meant to meet each other. She is very inspiring by her ambition and her passionate side. She has an artistic soul and a dreaming mind. She knows that she wants to be an illustrator and she likes what she does. Her works exude peacefulness and passion (funny thing is she actually writes "peace" instead of "piece, but it suits her work so well) and I find her pencil stroke very mature. Her drawings usually represent realistic persons and objects and yet it seems kind of abstract. The emotions she wants to express connect with the ones inside of us. And we could feel that she still has a lot to show and share through her works. That is why we wanted her to be our illustrator.
We appreciate her personality, her enthusiasm, and the atmosphere of the drawings she submitted to us. It makes us feel like she is the perfect match for Incognito. We hope you will appreciate that too.
Incognito: How do you feel about joining Incognito ?
Ieva Ku: First of all
I am SOOOOO excited to join you guys as I really liked the blog, I
love fashion and photography and all little sweet things and places you're
putting there. Also I'm really happy about working with people who has similar
opinion and understanding in art and beauty so we can be a team and at the time
friends. And actually it's my first, let's say work as an illustrator so I'm
trying my best to do as good illustrations as you (the ladies of Incognito and
you readers). It's already a big deal for my CV, second I enjoy it, and third
there's a chance for more people to find out about my works.
Incognito: You also know that Incognito is "the cultural blog that doesn’t lack
style", how would you justify the fact that you have style ?
Ieva Ku: Omg, let’s see... I'm trying to follow
fashion and use “details” in my looks, my life and my works, I mean I think
fashion is more than buy whatever clothes are on the wave at the moment I think
it's more of the lifestyle, the understanding of beauty in things and what
suits you best and trying to make it as yours and unique as possible.
Absolute B.
