Meet Zoe Gillette | Illustrator & Cartoonist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Zoe Gillette and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Zoe, we’d love to start by asking you about lessons learned. Is there a lesson you can share with us?
Self-discipline! When I graduated from art school and got shoved out into the real world, I swallowed the tough pill that in life, there is nobody who can push you to create besides yourself. This is an especially frustrating realization when your greatest passion is also your money-maker. I learned to surround myself with creative people of all types, to enforce rigid boundaries between art for work and art for fun, and to keep an open sketchbook within arm’s reach at all times.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My body of work is an ongoing investigation of the million unglamorous facets of humanity that unite us all. It is human nature to seek meaning in the subtleties of life; it is my mission to collect and immortalize it. When I walk through the streets of my Astoria neighborhood, a place filled with halal carts, screaming babies, rats, and working-class individuals from around the world, I am humbled by the universe experiencing itself before my eyes. It is this awe that I aim to portray in my work: small things that for a moment hold us comfortably in the universe and in the arms of one another. We are apes! Goddamn, let’s have a laugh.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Welcome to Queens, let’s eat! We’ll go to MaLala for the tastiest and spiciest mapo tofu, Susuru for the best ramen you’ve ever had, Mahmoud’s Corner food-truck halal done right, Astoria Seafood for the freshest fish in the city, and Queens Night Market for late-night street food from around the world (plus salsa dancing).

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
This shoutout belongs to my two grandmothers. They live an ocean apart and hardly speak the same language, but both are passionate, outspoken, self-reliant artists. Throughout their lives, both women have been dealt intense difficulty and loss—yet the older they get, the more devoted they become to their creative disciplines. One picked up abstract painting later in life and now lives in an apartment full of blue and yellow canvases. The other is a Broadway actress with a gritty industry story for every scenario and a gorgeous soprano voice. Their lessons come in different forms but the laughs are constant and the wine glasses are always full. I would not be where I am today without the women in my life, but this is especially true of my two grandmas.

Website: https://www.zoegillette.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zerogazillion/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zo%C3%A9-gillette-174996141/