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Scrolling through herpage, its hard to imagine that Anna-Laura Sullivan spent most of her life makingblack-and-white art.
More words and more complexity just kind of infuses my own ego into it, she says.
A post shared by Anna-Laura Sullivan (@annalaura_art)
Your work feels so nostalgic.
Could you tell me a bit about what your childhood was like?
This was kind of the very last era before social media, before phones became so prevalent.
It radically impacted my life that I had so much space to be a kid.
It really made silence feel like a home.
I just think the pace of my childhood was a lot slower, and Im grateful for it.
As someone who makes such hopeful and warm art, what is your relationship with despair?Great question.
In college and high school, I had a lot of sadness.
I wanted to be taken seriously as an artist, and I remember making very dark paintings.
I was trying to wail and moan my experience out through my work.
How do you come up with ideas for these comics?I carry a journal with me everywhere.
I couldnt be the artist I am without the people whove loved me and who love me now.
Its all coming from a deeply real place.
Ive found that this art style in particular is a great window because the characters can be anyone.
I think theyre perfect vessels for what a soul is: a very soft, gentle thing.
I dont know how long Ill be possessed with this ghost of inspiration.
Maybe the most difficult part is relinquishing control of how the comics are received.
Making a work of art is kind of like having a baby.
And then they go to college, and then youll see them on Pinterest without a watermark.
Well, they have been received really well on the internet.
Gigi Hadid follows you, and Does she really?
She does!What?
That connection is life force, it feels like thunder in my heart.
Its an unbelievable feeling that I can offer anyone any solace on their journey.
Im so in awe of these people.
Theyre like, thank you for the art, its beautiful.
Im like,yourethe artist.
Do you know what that comment was?
We really created this benevolent ecosystem in what I previously thought was a cold platform.
How does spirituality inform your art?
I know in Buddhism, monkeys are significant.Thats actually why I made the monkey characters.
Everything that built up my identity was gone almost overnight, and I had nothing to fall back on.
I was curious about Buddhism because it felt like a philosophy more than a religion.
I found a Buddhist temple in the swamps of Georgia, because I went to school at SCAD.
And it taught me that spirituality is applied poetry.
Spirituality is the art of seeking meaning in everyday experience.
It really informed my art and became the new thing that I sought.
How can I explain it?
So I started making a comic about themonkey mind.
It was this 200-page behemoth project.
The monkey characters were the chattering forces.
And youre welcome to it anytime.
Youre standing in the threshold of all of your infinity, all the time.
The world is gonna attempt to convince you that its something that you gotta earn.
And I think when Im saying that infinity thats love.
But those are what our lives are built upon.
Do you think youll stick to this watercolor style moving forward?Life is uncertain.
If not, then thats okay, thats part of it.
I dont know what it will look like, but I know my art will probably shift around.
But I think the core of what Im looking to do will always be the same.
I was looking through scrapbooks of when I was a kid.
My first ever drawings, its so funny … its the exact same thing.
Maybe better, honestly.
I was drawing little critters and a message.
Little phrases that struck me that I felt I needed to write down.
So yeah, the vessel might change, but I think this message will be a lifelong pursuit.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
