Artists Talk with LVA: February 16, 2023

Yoko Molotov is a multimedia artist specializing in transgressive, gender-fluid cartoons, comics, art books, poetry and performances. She is also in the bands Sweatermeat, Cowabunga Lullaby and in the music/performance group Harpy.

“I think everything I do is art. I think my whole life is art. Everything I do is for art. Every expression I make is an extension of that … I just live to create.” – Yoko Molotov

Yoko Molotov was born and raised in Louisville, KY nestled in the basin of a polluted river. She decided at age 9 she would do comics, at that age on college rule and the backs of important documents like her original birth certificate. Five years later she discovered the saccharine and disturbing world of manga and anime and knew it was where she belonged. Inspired by such artists as Mita Ryuusuke (Dragon Half) and studio GAINAX (Neon Genesis Evangelion, FLCL), she carved her own world with imagination and Bristol, constantly chastised for drawing in her High School days. In 2006, Yoko made top 20 in Tokyopop's Rising Stars of Manga Competition with her entry "NecrOphealia" and went along to create a Shoujo-ai Web Manga called "Stray Crayons". Both titles are now published by Demented Dragon. Yoko loves her city, her better half and best friends in the entire world, and loves nothing more than to get lost in a good story (whether it be manga or not) in a song, or better yet an adventure. Some of Yoko's other hobbies have included public access TV shows and a band she is in called Gentleman Stabber.

Regretfully, the archive recording of this interview was corrupted and is not available. Apologies to Yoko.

Vignette: Jessica Booker

"Braid Boy #3" by Jessica Booker, 1920x1080px, digital illustration (2016)

One can see the influence of contemporary illustration and animation in the work of Jessica Booker; that there is a good measure of manga seems obvious, but is there not a also a bit of Margaret Keane, whose “Big Eye” paintings were the source of controversy and an important progenitor of the mass market merchandising of art almost a century ago? 

"Braid Boy #2" by Jessica Booker, 1920x1080px, digital illustration (2016)

Such a thought is what makes the work of so young an artist interesting. Would Ms. Booker even know Keane, whose court case to claim authorship of her work is now seen as a feminist victory for a female artist so subservient to her husband’s will as to feel it appropriate to bury her creative identity? If time is a river, perhaps artists are unknowingly being caught up in themes and influences like eddies and currents along the way, forever being swept downstream.

"Braid Boy 2.5" by Jessica Booker, 1080x1920px, digital illustration (2016)

Booker works mostly from her imagination, but is inspired by people in her life, a blending of source and sensibility that asks questions about identity in an overly homogenized, culture saturated by digital media. 

She finds the approach somewhat liberating, “…not worrying about getting an exact likeness to someone makes creating more open. They are like idealized caricatures of different persona and personalities I encounter every day. Each face is different in the moment, but similarities start to show and imaginary bonds between these total strangers start to emerge.  

Playing with color, composition, shapes of features - even what they wear, tells what they might be like. Experimenting, for me, is important. Much like actual people, there are similarities and differences. I like to play with the details to make each person unique.”

In high school, Booker received a Scholastic Gold Key Award for Art and Writing. Last year she helped paint a mural on a Spalding University building for SoBro in Louisville.

Age: 21
Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky
Education: BFA candidate, Painting and Drawing, Kentucky College of Art + Design at Spalding University, Louisville, Kentucky

"Braid Boy #1" by Jessica Booker, 1920x1080px, digital illustration (2016)

"Braid Boy..Wait!" by Jessica Booker, 1080x1920px, digital illustration (2016)

Written by Keith Waits. Entire contents copyright © 2016 Louisville Visual Art. All rights reserved. 

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