Meet Irene Feleo | Multidisciplinary artist + Director

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

Hi Irene, what are you inspired by?
At the moment I am inspired by anything that plays with form, At the beginning of this year, I became obsessed with the visual concept of a ‘glitch’, and began experimenting on how I can bring this digital concept (that almost exclusively lives on screens and the virtual world) into a traditional analog process. I experimented with creating images and cutting them up to bring them back together, traced images and offset them using a light box, painted a whole canvas and masked off particular areas, and re-painted them to be offset. The final product for all these experiments was more or less the same, but I enjoyed the process of what each method offered.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I do a whole mix of things but my professional career has been mainly focused on design, illustration, and animation. I started out wanting to be a comic book or concept artist, but then quickly realized when entering art school that I couldn’t draw perspective, proportions, or half as well as my classmates. I feel like this “setback” helped inform my process in artmaking because what I lacked technically, I made up for with improvisation and play. At the same time, I was working at production studios in Sydney, Australia (where I am from) and learning the ins and outs of the commercial motion graphics world.

I feel like I have always navigated two paths simultaneously, the professional commercial world and my own personal art practice. Over the years the focus has flowed between the two, and I like to think that they both inform each other. On days when I get burnt out by commercial jobs, I’ll find inspiration in what I am exploring in my personal work. When I feel overwhelmed or struggling with my personal work, I’ll find solace in the more straightforward world of commercial projects and set deadlines.

I found that taking it one step at a time was the only way to go about it, otherwise, I would get overwhelmed with the feeling of treading water in everything I was trying to achieve. Some things I have learned along the way are that some people are not going to believe in you, which is fine! Move away from those people and find people that do back you. I’m all about ebbs and flows and my journey has not been a steady climb, moreso a lovely meander. Speaking of! At the moment I am taking a one-year sabbatical from working in commercial spaces to focus on my painting and writing art practice. Hoping this recalibration brings on some new creative adventures, inspiration, and (most importantly) rest.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
First up, we would start the day at Dim Sum at Golden Unicorn or Sunshine Seafood in Chinatown. Then we would walk off the dumplings by checking out some of my favorite galleries like The Hole, Jeffrey Deitch, and gallery Perrotin. I love walking so would then recco we forge on and walk across the Williamsburg bridge and end up in Greenpoint where we do happy hour $1 oysters and cocktails at Diamond Lil. For dinner, I want ramen! (I always want ramen) so would check out Suzume in Williamsburg. Drinks after would be at a chill dive bar like Minnows and then for a late snack I would force everyone to grab tacos from the Latin Bistro taco truck parked outside McCarren park.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
When I first moved to NY, I knew almost no one. I was incredibly lucky to stumble across a mix of individuals who not only encouraged me, but offered their time, words of wisdom, and support along the way. Darryl Mascarenhas was my former creative director at my first job and he truly pushed me to believe that I could achieve anything and that where I was at the moment was only a starting point. Dorca Musseb and Emily Suvanvej are both two incredible ladies that I met in the Panimation meetup brunches, who both helped me find community in the animation and design industry. Lastly, my family – my parents and my sister relentlessly believed in me and my choices, even if it meant moving to the other side of the world to pursue them.

Website: www.irenefeleo.com

Instagram: @irenefeleo