Chris Bianchi – illustrator in residence

This year at The Big Chill we set out to seek an individual contemporary illustrator or artist to highlight and profile throughout the years promotions and activities.

We can proudly announce that this illustrator is one Chris Bianchi, part of bleeding edge art collective ‘Le Gun‘.

Chris moved to London in 1998 to further his education in illustration. After completing a BA (HONS) at Middelsex university Chris got a place at the Royal College of Art, where he worked on various projects.

Since graduating he has worked for a range of magazines, publishers, record labels, and leading fashion brands.

Chris is also an animator and has worked on a few music videos, for the likes of Dirty Stop Outs, Kissy Sell Out, and the Plugs, as well as having his animations shown at various film festivals.

When not at the drawing table he is working on musical project called ‘Nairobi Lovers’ and producing a quaterly newspaper publication called Bare Bones. Chris is a founder member of LE GUN magazine – a publication which explores the narrative side of illustration and story telling.

A Q&A with Chris Bianchi

Your drawing style is very much your own – how would you describe it?
A parallel world away from the spiders.

There seem to be a recurring cast of characters that pop up from time to time in your work – who are they and what are they to you?
Friends, or parts of me really, which come out to play, live out there life and are then forgotten for new more inquisitive characters its a cycle. Use em ditch em !!

You’ve very kindly drawn all this for us to make music to this year, what’s your soundtrack to illustrate or animate to?
Hamish Imlach, Maserati, Faust

Is it hard to make a living out of your illustrative work alone?
Its a roller coster, but we survive, dreaming the living

What advice would you give to little 15 yr old Chris Bianchi in getting started in the big wide world of illustration?
Believe in your own thoughts.

Do you feel your style might change significantly in future or do you feel you’ve found your artistic ‘voice’ now?
Hopefully it will keep changing im not one to stay in one place.

Given unlimited budget (!) what would you spend your time on, illustrations or animation?
Probably both

Were you a graphic novel/comic-loving kid growing up or was it something else that got you into all this?
I got to Graphic novels later on in life i used to skate and was always into the graphics by Jim Philips ( http://www.jimphillips.com/ ) and others so i started doodling and it just spiralled from there.

Are there any other illustrators and artists that inspire you now?
Adolf Wolfli an outsider artist, Tar? Okamoto, Raymond Pettibon, etc

Big-Chill-2010-Illustrator-in-Residence aside, what have been your most memorable or enjoyable commissions over the years?
Working on a room with collective LE GUN at the moment which will be going to Brussels Art Fair in April, Illustrating can get pretty lonely working with the LE GUN family makes it all more interesting.

You also work as part of a collective with Le Gun, is it hard to balance the egos, artists can be pretty temperamental no?!
No one is king in LE GUN its about the work not the ego (sometimes)

Given unlimited choice through history who would you most like to form another collective with?
Paganini, Eddie from iron maiden, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Orsen Wells, Omar Sharif, Gloria Swanson.

If you could draw a picture of yourself as you’d like to be in 20 yrs time, where would you be?
Hopefully still doing what im doing with more space to make bigger work and definitely some where very hot by the sea, see you there.

How much is that doggy in the window?
Never liked him anyway you can have him.

Chris Bianchi – illustrator in residence

Tags: artist in residence, chris bianchi. le gun

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