Interview with SINA SPARROW

q)Walk us through an intimate day in your life

a)How intimate do you mean? Usually I get up and have a lot to do for my day job. Once that’s done, I see friends or watch TV or read, or try and do some art!

q) Where did you grow up/where do you live now and how does that contribute to your art?

a)For the first few years of my life I lived in Iran, but I grew up mainly in suburbia in England. When I was younger I had some bad experiences in school of homophobic bullying, and I think that made me feel like I needed to express myself some way or another. I loved drawing, and I loved fantasy – novels, cartoons, mythology, comics – and I think all of this fed into my art and keeps on doing so, even when I’m doing very autobiographical work as I often do now.

q) What is your earliest memory that propelled you to create?

a)My Dad used to draw with me all the time, I remember when we were living in Iran I think that’s what got me into wanting to do my own art.

q) Tell us a little bit about your creative process.

a)It’s different according to whatever I’m doing. Sometimes I draw from life, when I’m out and about – I love watching people and observing them. Or I draw from photographs I find online – pop stars, pornography. It’s more complicated to do comics obviously – I make notes all the time, then I sit down and figure out how I would break that story down into panels with drawings and word balloons.

q) How do you wish for your art to be perceived?

a)I guess it’s not up to me how it’s perceived, but I hope people connect with it and understand that on the whole I am trying to be honest about how I see the world.

q) What do your internal dialogues sound like?

a)Pretty schizophrenic, haha.

q) Do you feel that there are limitations to what you want to create?

a)Time is the biggest limitation! I also feel like society is becoming more and more puritanical, so if you want to be honest and sexual in your work that makes it more difficult.

q) Do you feel art is vital to survival and if so, why?

a)Yeah I think art makes life worth living! One of the times I feel most myself is when I’m making art. But I also think seeing other people’s art is really important for us as a society and a culture.

q) Describe a world without art.

a)I think it would be very flat and grey and sad.

q) Tell us a secret, and obsession.

a)I’m obsessed with sexy men, but that’s not much of a secret!

q) Where can people see more of your work on the internet?

a)www.sinasparrow.com is the best place to look J