Interview by Visual Collaborative
March 2019 4 min read
Tiphanie Brooke known professionally as Antigirl, is an American multidisciplinary artist and graphic designer based in Los Angeles. She headlined Visual Collaborative’s Miami event in 2008. Showing her love for L.A through street murals, and as a feature on the “Polaris” interview series, She talks to us about her time of transition and her exploration on the commercial path
You have lived in Phoenix before a move to Los Angeles, was this a natural progression as your art evolved? Please tell us about your transitional journey to the City of Angels as an artist embraced by the West Coast.
The move to Los Angeles was crazy but only in retrospect. It’s like it happened so quick and easy. I moved back to Los Angeles to get my BFA in graphic design. Got lots of scholarships to a fancy art school and everything was a whirlwind ever since.
always stay true. No matter what and always take risks. Have faith in yourself and the process…
Right before I moved back I started doing murals. I really wanted to see my work in that context. It worked well for my process of mixing materials, it became a dream come true as I learned how to present my work on a larger scale.
Your heart paintings and murals are popular around communities in L.A, Some people outside your fanbase like daily gridlocked commuters may conclude that the artist who made the work is seeking love. How do you respond to those kind of assumptions?
I would say this is absolutely the case. You don’t do this kind of attention seeking if it wasn’t as far as the street art aspect goes. The hearts dripping are interesting to me coming from a graphic background and now creating them as a true traditional artist. I was also in an extremely toxic relationship, like a metaphor where my heart was exposed in ways I didn’t ever consider.
Your collection featured at the Visual Collaborative Miami exhibit at the Undercurrent gallery, it was popular among other artists and also with the massive turnout of attendees. How does that make you feel and would you ever show in Miami again?
I love when I see people really respond to my work and yes Miami would be a dream city to work in and around!
What would you say to a younger Tiphanie Brooke of 12 years ago about her career, based on what you are exposed to know?
To always stay true. No matter what and always take risks. Have faith in yourself and the process.
I want to do something with moving images, like a film. Or a movie. I guess after seeing the documentary I was a part of come to life…
In your quiet or noisy moments how do you get inspired. What makes you create the work you do. Do you seek spirituality or get physiological like many artists for muses?
BOTH, balance is key now that I am older in age and trying to be a functioning adult I guess… Love is always a muse for me. Not about a person or object of desire anymore but a feeling now. A pure feeling. I seek to make stuff that is interesting and hopefully steer someone else’s thoughts.
Some creatives give cliche responses about their admiration from the renaissance period, times of the greats Leonardo Davinci and Michael Angelo. Pardon us if you were going to give the same response, but If you could time-warp to any era which time would it be and why?
This is an interesting question I think the 70s only because it was pre-computer era. The world and American were going through major changes socially and culturally back then. I wonder how that would be if we didn’t have this constant connection of the internet age and phone apps. I really do wonder what kind of works I would have created during that time without the easy convenience of social media – another thing that I have backed away from since the evolution of the name – “social media”. Which is kind of interesting to me since I made a personal website long before another familiar word ‘blog’ was invented and everybody had copy of photoshop.
At this stage of your professional career and accomplishments, If you could work alongside any other artist, curator or random personality who would it be and why?
I want to do something with moving images, like a film. Or a movie. I guess after seeing a documentary which I was a part of come to life, I realized the power of that medium and also that it is one I don’t know at all so I think something like that would be amazing to convert some of my work into. For people, of course to work with Spike Jonze.
What kind of work can the world expect from Antigirl within the next 5 years given the rapid change of American culture?
[UGH] AMERICA gone wild! I guess it was always like this but the rapid way things are getting exposed is really interesting. I guess as that goes on I feel more freedom to do whatever I want to as an individual and an artist because it is all chaos anyways.
More on Tiphanie Brook can be found on antigirl.la