Hidden Faces
Hidden Faces put together the sick illustrations for our FLEECED print. It was only a matter of time before we interviewed him about his whopper figurative pieces that capture the characters and angles of Dublin.
We had a chat about his initial artistic inspirations and where he hopes to go from here.
Read time - 6 mins
Starting off with an initial interest in graffiti, over time Hidden Faces has become focussed on a unique style of artistic expression. He’s now consistently creating outstanding figurative pieces loaded with layers of personality. He explores a range of mediums in his work, with a foundation in digital illustration, but now expanding into different types of paint.
“I started just doing letters and little characters. I hadn’t really much of an interest in anything outside of graff. Once I started paying more attention to other forms of art I started veering towards the characters and making them looks weirder and weirder until they were at a point that was abstract. Slowly but surely, I’ve started implementing more body parts to make the work busy and give it energy.”
Hidden Faces chooses to primarily focus on painting faces because they’re the most familiar, intuitive and emotional subjects for all of us.
“We’ve learned to subconsciously pick up on the smallest changes on a face. A small change in the mouth can dictate whether someone looks happy or miserable. The same goes when creating a painting or drawing. I feel you can express yourself a lot better when the subject is something that everyone can feel a familiarity with. There’s 7 billion faces out in the world approximately so there has to be someone out there that looks exactly like a face I’ve painted. Guaranteed like.”
In the illustrations, there are expressions of other aspects of the world, like the corner of a building, or the slope of a mountain, or the lettering from wildstyle graff. For any artist seeking to carve out their own mode of expression, a constant search for inspiration is key. As he notes, creative energy doesn’t come out of nowhere – we need to charge it.
“At the moment, I’m getting a lot of inspiration from old portraits and architecture. Trying to blend the two together in a way that is a nod to both. The delicate and personal feelings that come from a portrait mixed with the complex nature of architecture. I see a building that has a strange roof and Issa like oh that would make a sick eyebrow. I find going to a gallery is like putting yourself on charge for a few hours.”
The structure of cities and the paint that covers them has clearly captured since he first began to appreciate graffiti. This appreciation and interest of his continues spread to other mediums, into digital illustration and now different forms of painting.
“Graffiti has always been my main inspiration artistically, since 14 or so I’ve been in love with it. I remember seeing that old Grift piece down by 3 arena and thinking this is the shit I want to do forever. A lot of the shapes I build come from wildstyle letters or calligraphy handos.
Acrylic paint has me at the moment. Digital is great but I love getting covered in paint smoking rollies and drinking coffee. But to be honest, I’ll give any medium a go. If you give me anything that can leave a mark on something, I will draw on your wall no doubt. I’m probably least educated in oil painting and I’d love to get a deeper understanding and capability of using it. I’ve done one in my life and I ruined it because I kept touching it to see if it was dry.”
With his keen interest in a multitude of artistic forms, it’s no surprise Hidden Faces also appreciates some of the big names in Irish art right now.
“The amount of creativity that comes from such a small country is insane. Loving Maser’s most recent work a hell of a lot. So peeled back but so popping. Aches is just a different gravy altogether chap, has google glasses on 24/7 365 days a week. Myne is killing it as well. You really just walk around town for 15 minutes and you’ll see such hunreal stuff.”
With lockdown season, it’s tough for artists to work on projects outside of their regular practice, but Hidden Faces has been chipping away at a few projects, so we can look forward to some fresh pieces soon.
“I’m working on a few things at the moment but can’t really talk about them so keep a look out for some designs in the near future. Whole Covid-19 thing has killed the buzz for any real life shows but hopefully once this is all cleared there can be so much to go to.”
And what are the long-term ambitions for this sharp and witty illustrator?
“Long term is just being able to create with no boundaries, With no worries and just making the best art I personally can. If it takes me 5 years to get there or 20 it won’t matter because it would be worth every second of it. I’ve no want for making millions, just want pretty pictures to look at.”
Follow Hidden Faces on Instagram and check out a gallery of his work below.
We value original, substantive ideas – mainstream or alternative, progressive or conservative – and encourage everyone to join our discussion.
content@facmagazine.com
More FAC
