When I arrived at artist Avery Noyes’ colorful Brooklyn apartment-cum-studio, it was immediately clear that this wasn’t going to be a run-of-the-mill interview. Droney electro-pop and laughter soundtracked the scene as a sea of colorful vinyl, frilly ruffles, and bondage straps passed through the room. The 23-year-old SVA student was getting camera-ready alongside his long-time friends and collaborators, Elizabeth Ammerman and Eric Schlosberg. Together, the two are the kawaii fashion powerhouse Ammerman Schlösberg.
For Spring/Summer 2015, Ammerman Schlösberg called on Noyes to create two creepy-cute fruit graphics to adorn the brand’s gauzy crop tops and halters. To get the full story as to how the satanic strawberries, crazy-eyed cherries, and overall relationship between brand and artist came to be, I sat amongst the charismatic trio, turned on my recorder, and listened intently as the design duo grilled Noyes on everything from artistic techniques to anime to the magic of teenage scene phases.
ELIZABETH AMMERMAN: You have an affinity towards Japanese culture. Why is that? Why is it so important to your work?
AVERY NOYES: Pokemon, when I was six. It was the first thing that got me hooked, and it was all downhill from there.
EA: Are the aesthetics of anime what inspires you, or do the culture and the values of it factor into your work as well?
AN: It’s not just about the aesthetics. I feel like it’s cheap to just use the aesthetics. I feel like it’s more about the personal connection I had towards anime growing up. It was just such a big part of my life. I was a really big otaku kid; I went to Otakan [the convention in Baltimore] a few times, and I think getting into anime really opened me up to Japanese culture as a whole.
ERIC SCHLOSBERG: You know, I remember you wearing a Pokeball belt buckle the first time I met you! We went to the park and talked about boys! [Laughs] You really have always been into it.
AN: Oh yeah, the Pokeball belt! Yeah, I guess it is a phase for some people, but I never grew out of it. Now it really influences my work.
EA: What’s your favorite anime?
AN: There’s this anime called FLCL. I first saw it on a family vacation when I was twelve. It’s basically a coming-of-age-slash-sexual-awakening story that uses alien robots as a metaphor for erections. It’s so good, it’s a classic. It has the best soundtrack, also.
ES: I know you make beautiful sculptures and you’re also so good at painting. What do you prefer: 3D or 2D? What is your favorite medium to work in?
AN: Well, basically all of my work starts out on the computer. I’m not sure if that makes me a, like, “post-internet” artist.
ES: “Digital artist.”
AN: [Laughs] Ew! But it always starts out on Google Image search and Tumblr, which I use to get inspiration and pull images. So it always starts on the computer in some form or another, then I like to take it out of that context. I think I prefer 3D because I like working with my hands, sculpting things and working in that aspect.
EA: Yeah, because even when you do 2D prints for us, you start with hand-rendered stuff.
ES: The [devil cherries] print that you did for us started out as just a little doodle on a Post-it, and we saw it a
For Spring/Summer 2015, Ammerman Schlösberg called on Noyes to create two creepy-cute fruit graphics to adorn the brand’s gauzy crop tops and halters. To get the full story as to how the satanic strawberries, crazy-eyed cherries, and overall relationship between brand and artist came to be, I sat amongst the charismatic trio, turned on my recorder, and listened intently as the design duo grilled Noyes on everything from artistic techniques to anime to the magic of teenage scene phases.
ELIZABETH AMMERMAN: You have an affinity towards Japanese culture. Why is that? Why is it so important to your work?
AVERY NOYES: Pokemon, when I was six. It was the first thing that got me hooked, and it was all downhill from there.
EA: Are the aesthetics of anime what inspires you, or do the culture and the values of it factor into your work as well?
AN: It’s not just about the aesthetics. I feel like it’s cheap to just use the aesthetics. I feel like it’s more about the personal connection I had towards anime growing up. It was just such a big part of my life. I was a really big otaku kid; I went to Otakan [the convention in Baltimore] a few times, and I think getting into anime really opened me up to Japanese culture as a whole.
ERIC SCHLOSBERG: You know, I remember you wearing a Pokeball belt buckle the first time I met you! We went to the park and talked about boys! [Laughs] You really have always been into it.
AN: Oh yeah, the Pokeball belt! Yeah, I guess it is a phase for some people, but I never grew out of it. Now it really influences my work.
EA: What’s your favorite anime?
AN: There’s this anime called FLCL. I first saw it on a family vacation when I was twelve. It’s basically a coming-of-age-slash-sexual-awakening story that uses alien robots as a metaphor for erections. It’s so good, it’s a classic. It has the best soundtrack, also.
ES: I know you make beautiful sculptures and you’re also so good at painting. What do you prefer: 3D or 2D? What is your favorite medium to work in?
AN: Well, basically all of my work starts out on the computer. I’m not sure if that makes me a, like, “post-internet” artist.
ES: “Digital artist.”
AN: [Laughs] Ew! But it always starts out on Google Image search and Tumblr, which I use to get inspiration and pull images. So it always starts on the computer in some form or another, then I like to take it out of that context. I think I prefer 3D because I like working with my hands, sculpting things and working in that aspect.
EA: Yeah, because even when you do 2D prints for us, you start with hand-rendered stuff.
ES: The [devil cherries] print that you did for us started out as just a little doodle on a Post-it, and we saw it a