Correct Culture: Tobie Giddio, Illustrationist

Tobie Giddio is one of the most unique and inspiring artists I have ever been lucky enough to work with during my past 25 years in the fashion biz. We first met in the late 80s when the New York club scene was ground zero for creative kids in search of an outlet outside of the mainstream media. I was about to launch an alternative anti-fashion magazine called STOP and Tobie, already a friend, soon became one of my most important and favorite contributors. From the very beginning of her career she has displayed an unbelievably polished and signature technique. Her work takes you into a gorgeously sublime & abstract world where you find yourself in an elegant, almost futuristic dream. I’ve never seen nor met another artist with her perspective and the passion she brings to her work is utterly infectious. She inspires me to always move ahead -- but in the most beautiful way possible.

When did you first start drawing?
I started drawing as a child and never really stopped. I loved drawing ladies in period gowns because I watched a lot of Barbra Streisand movies growing up. I was very inspired by all the Cecil Beaton period costumes with her 60s/70s make-up, hair, etc., and I still am. Then as a teenager I was into copying Richard Avedon photographs in my “studio” in the basement. Then there was The Eyes of Laura Mars, which probably put me over the edge.

Did you draw obsessively as a child?
Not really obsessively ... it was more of an escape. I loved nothing more than to put those giant headphones on and draw ... Elton John, Donna Summer, Barbra, then Led Zeppelin, the Bee Gees, Queen, Disco ... it was heaven and that pretty much still is for me.

You’re an 80s kid—what do you take from that period and use in your work today?
I moved to NYC in 1982 to go to school. I like to think of us as the “fortunate generation.” The true melting pot as we knew it no longer exists in NYC. Nightclubs at the time were just so incredibly abundant with genuinely talented people and fantastic music ... it was inspiring and a bit intimidating too, but it made you push yourself to be better, it made you dig down deep to find what was absolutely yours and to create from that place. It wasn’t about falling into some sort of lame standard of cool. The people I was surrounded by were just so amazing. Sister Dimension and Billy Beyond were some of my closest friends at the time (and still are) so I spent a lot of time at the Pyramid on Avenue A. The performances, the visuals, the music that I witnessed there for years are a huge part of my foundation as an artist. I was also spending a lot of time in London, and it was so incredible. Beings like Leigh Bowery and all the characters of that moment were just blowing my mind with inspiration. That time for me was so much about experiencing the limitlessness of how beautiful, how expansive, how expressive you could and should be. The 80s were great, but honestly I’ve embraced every decade so far for completely different reasons.

What particular job/assignment helped jump start your career?
Well, while all that 80s stuff was going on, I was working, funny enough. I would have to say doing those black & white Bergdorf Goodman ads that ran in The New York Times every week. But my very first published piece was for the East Village Eye. I was still a student, and Donald Schneider just put one of my drawings in there for no reason other than because he liked it, no article or editorial, nothing, full page ... I loved that.

Who are your major influences/icons illustrator/artist/designer wise?
Heroes I have many, but here’s a to eleven, no particular order ... Agnes Martin, Lee Bontecue, Tori Amos, Georgia O’Keeffe, Paolo Roversi, Leigh Bowery, John Galliano, Joni Mitchell, Keith Haring, Milton Glaser, and Picasso.

What inspires you in terms of pop culture/music/life in general?
Hmmm, well music has always been a primary “art supply” in the studio. I work silently until I feel I am where I need to be, and then it goes on nice and loud and I completely let go into full on enjoyment. At the moment I’m not listening to a lot that’s new. I listen to a lot of Tori Amos because she’s so prolific and genius and gives me the rich production value. That and my other tried and true reliable. Nature, modern art, not so much that’s going on at the moment but I am loving the paintings of Tomma Abts ... incredible abstractions.

Do you still draw for yourself, or do you find yourself mostly doing it for work now that you’re more established?
I’ve always drawn for myself. It has to please me or it just doesn’t flow, though my intent has changed over the years. In the beginning I felt a responsibility to be a part of visualizing the art of fashion illustration as all our guys were dying of AIDS and Steven Meisel was busy catapulting fashion photography to this level that it was not before. A lot has happened since then, and there are many illustrators and agencies out there now. I continue to draw for myself but my intention has taken off and evolved from where I started. I think it’s a mission accomplished in terms of keeping drawing fashion alive so I’ve personally moved on. I now work with an intention to express a much more personal yet hopefully universal vision of beauty that serves in a different way.

Do you consider yourself an illustrator? Artist? Or both?
I don’t think it’s entirely correct to call what I’m doing now fashion illustration. I say that with huge respect for the art of illustration. Hopefully without sounding like a pretentious fuck I can simply call myself an artist. I think it’s really about where I feel aligned with. I no longer work with an illustration agency or am a part of all the fashion illustration collective publications ... It’s just me and my attorney at this point working for those who are in full appreciation of where I am coming from and exhibiting in places that resonate with the essence of the work. My assignments have a huge range of content. Sometimes it’s fashion, but it goes way outside that as well.

People are always saying that illustration—especially fashion illustration—is dead. How do you feel about that?
Well I guess we’re talking about within the fashion community now. Yes, with these guys it is dead or just not relevant. Aside from the odd Mats Gustavson editorial in Italian Vogue or Visionaire once in a blue moon, you’re not going to see actual fashion illustration very much in what was once considered its proper arenas. I used to care a lot about it, but not so much now. It’s pointless to take it personally or to take the bitter pill. The fashion community’s collective mindset just could not embrace it. The idea that fashion illustration is some kind of quaint not-so-relevant stepsister to photography is ingrained in their psyche, and you’re not going to get through that no matter how talented you are, so for me this has meant a real need to carve my own way completely, even leaving my original intent to be a fashion illustrator. The truth is, great art is great art—it is always relevant and will find its place even if that turns out to be fashion. I think it’s a job of an artist to protect the work, nurture what is revealing itself, and to be steadfast and clear about its destiny regardless of what the world seems to be presenting ... so, if you’re asking me how I feel about these attitudes in the industry, I can say it has been a source of frustration over the years, but at this point I’m fine with it. It’s not what defines my life or work. I’m making the work I want to make and I am very content with that.

What/who is your dream assignment?
Proper editorials in relevant magazines, animations for retail environments for stores like Viktor & Rolf, print with brands that are truly innovative and gorgeous, music video for musicians I love, my version of a Yellow Submarine type of film. There’s something really great about not hitting your peak too early ... I feel lucky that there’s so much more to come and I’m 45. The whole youth thing is so ridiculous. I don’t think the real deal actually happens as a young artist no matter who you are. I’m into building something authentically and steadily, something that will last and I can do as an old lady.

What are you trying to transmit/say with your work?
Purity. Transcendence. The divine.

Where do you see yourself in the future?
Somewhere very dressed up.

With all the emphasis on technology these days, how much of it do you incorporate/use in your work compared to when you first started out?
I like to think the final result is at the perfect balance of digital technology and work by hand. All the drawing and collage is by hand. I start with a sumi ink drawing and then layer translucent color films that I’ve cut with a straight edge. Then it is scanned and cleaned up, meaning all the unnecessary cuts and bits of tape are removed, bubbles from the film, whatever ... not too clean but just enough. Then there’s some color correcting and retouching so the black ink is nice and rich and the color at its best. I love the level the computer has taken my work to. I resisted it for a long time, but I realized at one point that I was holding back the work, and it did not serve me ultimately to hand it over to art directors for them to take care of. Then came the animation and having the necessity of how to integrate work on paper into the computer.

What’s the most satisfying thing about what you do?
There’s nothing like the feeling of being in complete partnership with the creative powers that be, when the work is coming strong and fast, no editing, no deciding, no throw away, just one line after the next, one shape after the next, it’s exhilarating really, pure pleasure and when I’m done I feel so grateful to have been a part of the process.

Portrait of Tobie Giddio By Billy Erb.

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