Anita Kunz
internationally acclaimed illustrator ('The New Yorker') & fine art painter
Canada
The New York Times Magazine. Newsweek. The New Yorker. GQ. Sports Illustrated. Rolling Stone. Countless covers for these magazines and others were produced by this illustrator. Two of her various cover paintings for TIME are in the permanent collection at the Smithonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC. The lady that the newspaper National Post named „one of the fifty most influential Canadian women“ was the first woman and the first Canadian to be celebrated with a solo show at the Library of Congress in Washington. Her versatile work includes not only more than fifty book jacket covers but two stamps for Canada’s Post as well. Considering all that it’s no surprise that this coperation called her „one of the most iconic illustrators of our time“ for a good reason. Despite being in the business for decades this thinking (wo)man’s artist is still fuelled by the original driving force that she mentioned in Nuvo Magazine: „To illustration, I ascribe the power, potentially, to move people emotionally and challenge them intellectually. By its very nature, illustration can question conventions and generate reaction.“
Anita Kunz
internationally acclaimed illustrator ('The New Yorker') & fine art painter
Canada
Back into the future! The famous movie’s title fits well to the artisanial craft of this contemporary creative’s artworks too as the technique of Anita Kunz links to the Northern Renaissence strongly. It „resembles that of fifteenth-century Flemish artists whose oil paintings are characterized by glowing light, rich color, and clearly detailed rendering of forms that have symbolic and narrative significance“, states The Library of Congress, the largest library in the world, on its site. „Much like these traditional “Old Masters”, Kunz begins each picture with a drawing in pencil, carefully applies glazes of watercolor often combined with gouache, and gradually builds up layers of translucent colors to achieve similarly dazzling effects of color and light. Her vivid paintings derive narrative power from forms depicted realistically in extraordinary detail and invested with symbolic and allegorical meaning. In her selective use of distorted form and exaggerated color to express emotions, Kunz also draws upon European Expressionism (1905–1930). Other paintings show the influence of Surrealism (1920s–1930s) in their poetic, dream-like visions with haunting details.
Kunz's remarkable technical skills complement her exceptional ability to grasp the essential idea of a text that she is assigned to illustrate and devise imagery that illuminates it in a thoughtful, visually compelling way. She has said repeatedly that the nature of each subject determines and drives the aesthetic approach she deploys. Both abilities enable her to handle assignments on a wide range of topics.“
Anita Kunz (* December 9, 1956 in Toronto) began to draw at the age of five being strongly influenced by her uncle Robert Kunz, an educational illustrator. His motto „Art for Education“ has stuck in her mind ever since as well. Even more so „being influenced by the works of British artists like Sue Coe, Russell Mills, Ralph Steadman and Ian Pollock helped her to understand that illustration could be used to personally express "a strong political or social viewpoint" (wikiwand.com).
After graduating from the Ontario College of Art in 1978 she began her career with advertising assigments. Soon the exceptional natural talent that shines as a portraitist as well as caricaturist sought other types of work. Legendary art director Fred Woodward discovered this jewel and got her the job as one of two artists illustrating Rolling Stone‘s back-of-the-magazine-series ‚The History of Rock and Roll‘ from 1988 to 1990. Nowadays that’s just one mark in her CV. Just a further excerpt: she was commissioned for over 20 covers for The New Yorker since 1995, got jobs for design firms, advertising companies in France, Germany, Holland, Japan, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Sweden, the UK and on homeground. The demand for Mrs. Kunz is unbroken. Thanks to her enormous technical skills she can cover almost any issue first class – mainly now for mainstream magazines: from business, entertainment or finance, to health, politics, social and medicine.
The self proclaimed „hard working and persistent“ artist that has been honoured with many prestigous awards frequently teaches workshops and lectures at universities as well as institutions internationally. Parts of her large body of work are exhibited worldwide again and again.
In 2021, Kunz released two art hardcovers she wrote and illustrated. The first, ‚Another History of Art‘ (136 pages, Fantagraphics Books) is a satirical look at the history of art from a different perspective. The second, ‚Original Sisters: Portraits of Tenacity and Courage‘ (320 pages, Pantheon Press) is a collection of painted portraits of unsung female heroes. A third book, 'Striking a Pose: A handy guide to the male nude' (152 pages, Fantagraphics Books,) will be released in October 2023.
In an interview with forbes.com the member of the Society of Illustrators’ Museum of American Illustration Hall of Fame said: „I think it’s very important to go with ones’ instinct. It’s sometimes hard to ignore that negative little voice that a lot of creative people hear that might keep us from creating--that tiny monster known as self doubt. The only thing to do is to keep going. Thomas Edison said that ‚genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration‘. That quote really resonates with me.“
Anita Kunz is based in Toronto, Canada.
Interview July 2023
Art for Education: a strong political or social viewpoint included
INTUITION/IMAGINATION
?: How does intuition present itself to you – in form of a suspicious impression, a spontaneous visualisation or whatever - maybe in dreams?
I find that if I’m trying to solve a visual problem, the solution often occurs to me when I disengage from the problem and just let my brain sort it out while I’m doing something else. It seems counter-intuitive but I think that current neuroscience now supports the concept that often, in order for Eureka moments to occur, it’s best if one doesn’t dwell on the problem too intensely. And yes, sometimes ideas come to me in dreams or in the twilight moment just before sleep, or just upon waking.
?: Will any ideas be written down immediately and archived?
Not written but quickly sketched. Drawing is my medium.
?: How do you come up with good or extraordinary ideas?
I’m not even sure of that myself. Sometimes I think ideas are good and then in hindsight I realize they weren’t good at all! I think all artistic people try and pinpoint the moment of creation so that we can duplicate successful idea generation in the future. Unfortunately it’s not always successful.
?: Do you feel that new creative ideas come as a whole or do you get like a little seed of inspiration that evolves into something else and has to be realized by endless trials and errors in form of constant developments until the final result?
I think it’s more likely that ideas occur as seeds. The trick is to figure out which ideas should be developed, and which ones are dead ends. That comes with experience.
?: What if there is a deadline, but no intuition? Does the first fuel the latter maybe?
I find that my commercial work is much easier to do than my personal fine art. The commercial projects (often including hard deadlines) are typically more collaborative and I analyse what the art director is looking for and move forward accordingly. My fine art is another beast entirely. That area of my practice has more to do with my place in the world and what I want to visually say about what I see and experience, so it’s much more complex.
INSPIRATION
?: What inspires you and how do you stimulate this special form of imaginativeness?
I am interested in human behaviour, anthropology, and all forms of science really. For me there are endless things to visually comment upon in our world. Recently I’ve been writing art books. I’ve compiled one book that challenges what we are taught in art history. I feel there is a need for artists to challenge stereotypes, so that was where the idea for that book began. Another project is a series of 400 portraits I painted of women to know. Again the genesis of that work was that I felt there was a need for that sort of project and that was the basis for the idea which I then developed.
?: How do you filter between ideas that are worthwhile pursuing and bad ones that you just let go of?
I never quite know at the beginning. I, like most other artists I think, am plagued with self-doubt so it’s always an immense struggle. I usually don’t know if an idea is worthwhile until I’m further along in the project.
?: Does an idea need to appeal to you primarily or is its commercial potential an essential factor?
Well I have to feed myself and also feed my soul so I have to compartmentalize my work. I have bills to pay so I take on commercial projects and do the absolute best I can with them. But the deeper work for me is in my personal work. That is really where I can be as authentic as possible.
?: Do you revisit old ideas or check what colleagues or competitors are up to at times?
Yes, I do revisit old ideas! Sometimes they are just not sophisticated enough at first but later they might be more relevant. And I’ve really stopped looking very much at competitors’ work because there’s so much great work around and I don’t want to be influenced too much.
CREATIVITY
?: What time or environment best suits your creative work process — for example, a time and place of tranquility or of pressure? Which path do you take from theory or idea to creation?
I like getting up very early. It’s quiet and there are no distractions. And my studio is my tranquil place. There’s lots of light and I can be alone. That’s where I do all my work. And I have developed a process that takes me from sketch stage to completion so I usually don’t deviate from that too much.
?: What’s better in the realization process — for example, speed and forcing creativity by grasping the magic of the moment or a slow, ripening process for implementation and elaboration?
It depends. Sometimes I have an idea and then I lose it and I get very upset.
So there is certainly something to say for grasping the magic! But once the idea has been decided I can take my time to truly think in detail about the execution.
?: How important are self-doubt and criticism by others during such a process?
Unfortunately self-doubt is a constant. I think it was the American graphic designer Milton Glaser (famous for the 'I love New York' logo) who said that self-doubt is better for creativity than certainty and I certainly agree with that. That discomfort can actually be a positive element in creativity. And I don’t let anyone criticize my work until it’s done. It’s hard enough to make the work without second guessing all my decisions based on other opinions!
?: Is it better to be creative on your own, to trust only your own instincts, or to work in a team?
I haven’t had the experience of working in a team. My work has always been a solitary pursuit.
?: In case of a creative block or, worse, a real failure, how do you get out of such a hole?
That’s a tough one. I have in the past experienced very real block. I usually take a break if I can or try something different. Once I became very disenchanted with my painting. I started sculpting and I found that it helped immensely. I loved pounding the clay and making art that way because it was so different from the precise painting and drawing I had done up to that point.
?: Should a creative person always stay true to him- or herself, including taking risks and going against the flow, or must the person, for reasons of commercial survival, make concessions to the demands of the market, the wishes of clients and the audience’s expectations?
Yes. I think the world needs more authentic artists who are true to themselves. But it’s not easy. We often have to balance things so that we can survive. And of course, the wishes of the client in a commercial setting are paramount. That’s what being a professional is all about.
?: How are innovation and improvement possible if you’ve established a distinctive style? Is it good to be ahead of your time, even if you hazard not being understood?
Improvement is always possible. That’s what keeps an artist going. Nothing is ever good enough. And I don’t think we ever know if we are ahead of our time or not. It’s our job to just do the work and let others decide where there is or isn’t a place for the work.
?: When does the time come to end the creative process, to be content and set the final result free? Or is it always a work-in-progress, with an endless possibility of improvement?
Again I think that’s something that we learn from experience. I can think a piece is finished and then later see that I could have done more. Or sometimes I really hate something and then a few weeks later I think it wasn’t so bad.
?: Do you have a clue why do you do what you do the way you do it?
No! I only know that I have allowed my intuition to dictate the direction and somehow it’s worked out.
SUCCESS
?: “Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.“ Do you agree with Winston Churchill’s quote?
Yes, absolutely!! Without failure there can be no success. We have to have an almost child-like enthusiasm to endure it all!
?: Should or can you resist the temptation to recycle a ‘formula’ you're successful with?
Sometimes it works to utilize a formula as a basis and then deviate from it. Whatever works.
?: Is it desirable to create an ultimate or timeless work? Doesn’t “top of the ladder” bring up the question, “What’s next?” — that is, isn’t such a personal peak “the end”?
I actually never quite know what’s next. If you had told me a few years ago that I would be showing in galleries and creating art books I wouldn’t have believed you!
MY FAVORITE WORK:
It’s hard to pick one piece that represents my work because I work in different series but I think this one describes a few aspects of what I do. It’s from my book 'Another History of Art' in which I challenge the history of western art that we were taught. We learned a lot about art that was made by men; the women in art history seem to have been vastly overlooked. So the book is a look at iconic art but imagined from the perspective of a modern secular woman. It’s satire but also an homage to famous paintings. Plus, it describes a lot of my work with animals. I have done a fair bit of animal rescue including volunteering at a monkey sanctuary, and this painting seems to me to be both political and emotional at the same time.
