Laura Wächter

INTERVIEW

DI: Your imagination is quite incredible, it’s very versatile, I think of Tim Burton, Salvador Dali and Mad Max to name a few unorthodox characters. Your illustrations are deep and mystical yet playful and spiritual and I even sense a bit of sensitivity. Define to us your character.

LW: Thank you for the kind words. My character? Analytical, introspective, curious, calm, and extremely logical and passionate at the same time.

DI: Your later works seem to be more innocent, yet I don’t doubt that they don’t have some intense story behind them. The fine artist still appears but how would you say your style has evolved or changed since when you began?

LW: I don’t know if innocent is the right word. I think they’re just evolving depending on the time I’m passing through and they’re becoming more mature, symbolical and not so obvious as they were at the beginning.

DI: You use both methods of painting and using photoshop, which do you prefer and how do you feel the digital generation we live in fluctuates with the original pen to paper?

LW: If you had asked me at the beginning of my career I probably had told you that I prefer the digital technique, but now I can’t choose. I’ve tried a lot of different techniques and I think each one has its own charm. I started with the digital one, so I have a special affection to it, like the affection you keep to the animated cartoons you used to see when you were a kid.

DI: Describe to us a day in the life of Laura Wächter when she was about 8 years old. (Oh and please explain exactly how we pronounce your surname.)

LW: I used to live with my mother in a pretty small town in the south of Spain. Our home was just next to the old abandoned school, in the same building, so it had a lot of doors and corridors that I am damn afraid of. My favourite hobbies were staying a lot of hours at my bedroom recording myself into a cassette and then listening to it a hundred times, going out and trying to touch slightly stray cats, playing the old LucasArts’s graphic adventure games and collecting insects with my cousin that were already drowned in her pool.The best way to know how to pronounce my surname is to write it on google translator, choose german and click play!

DI: There is always a debate between fine artists and illustrators; do you think there is a fine line that exists between the two and personally which do you think is more difficult, the skill of a fine art piece or the imagination of the illustrator?

LW: Good question...I already find that debate a little bit superficial. I can see many illustrators who are artists, and many “artists” who just talk about other’s ideas or just abstract concepts that they don’t care about because they can’t use their technique to get their own feelings and thoughts out. I don’t care about the technique, I think it’s something much more complex than that, it’s about throwing yourself into a blank canvas. Someone could tell you “Hey, you are an illustrator when you’re painting someone’s others stories”, but it’s just circumstantial. Goya and most of the old remarkable artists used to paint orders too, but it doesn’t mean that they didn’t add their own feelings to them and that they didn’t their own personal works. “Painter”, “sculptor”, “engraver”, “illustrator”... are just superficial labels very useful in society and speech, but not enough at all to define a creative person and it’s whole work.

DI: Have you ever done any charity work, if so with whom or if not would you like to get involved?

LW: I’ve done some unpaid jobs for friends and special occasions, and I like to get involved if It worth it.

DI: Is your home surrounded by your own art or collective pieces by others?

LW: Mostly surrounded by my work, but just because I don’t have another place to store my paintings and sculptures. The only piece of art I have at my home is an original drawing made by Dariusz Skitek. Unfortunately I can’t usually afford that, and sometimes even can’t afford buying some material to work, so I’m lucky at least I have that drawing! Owning a piece of art it’s like owning a piece of the person who made it, and it’s such a big thing!

DI: Do you think the female artist struggles in the art world, it seems the men dominate in most movements or is this just how people portray it and have their facts wrong?

LW: I think everyone has to struggle in the art world to achieve to make art for a living. It’s so hard to get inside that bubble, specially if you paint for yourself and you don’t have good social talents to climb and make useful contacts. I think it's about being in the right moment in the right place, not about being man or woman. Call it luck if you want.

DI: Growing up in Spain, has this influenced you greatly and does it reflect in your artwork or did foreign artists from other parts of the world, and would you say the art culture in Spain is credible?

LW: I think nowadays it doesn’t matter where you are from, if you have a computer with internet connection. If you're curious you can find almost everything online. And, of course, you can find lots of artworks made by almost unknown painters from other countries. The place you live in can make a difference and make it special in your daily life and the personal experiences you have (and that changes the topic of your artworks and why you need to make them), but not necessarily your artistic or visual influence.

DI: I always end with the same question, all fans would love to know something about their fellow favourite artists, share something with us that are hidden within yourself, spill a little secret for us please.