The Delectable Style of Molly Crabapple

Interview by Chino for New York Waste

Stregoica-Photography©

When you think of the artist responsible for vivid illustrations of busty women with micro-waists in the throes of hedonistic excess – smoke filled burlesque shows with loose morals and looser women – you think of the awkward, introverted closet pornophile; y’know, the kid that spent the better part of his high school weekends reading comic books and living out his sexual fantasies on his sketch pad. You don’t, however, expect the artist to resemble the chanteuse vixens on her page.

To the men: take a glance at the sweet mug on Molly Crabapple and prepare to have your adolescent dreams realized: A woman into the same things that you are into: liquor, partying, and drawing– and her appetite and competence at each is damn impressive.

To the women: look at any of her work and see the myth that illustration is a boy’s sport dispelled. In fact, you can be a full-fledged artist and retain every ounce of your femininity.

Molly Crabapple is a resident New York artist, who has graced the pages of Screw magazine and NY Press with her seductive art. She has exhibited her work to much praise alongside other artists, such as the inimitable John John Jesse (of Nausea fame) at CBGB Gallery, and most recently at the Jigsaw gallery in Brooklyn. What she has planned for her art and the New York Art scene at large… well, let’s hear it from her.

Interview with Molly:

First off, what inspired the nom de plume "Molly Crabapple?" The first time I heard it, I thought of the teacher from the Simpsons, Mrs. Crobapple?
Everyone says that! I got my nom de guerre in Paris. I was living with a playwright boyfriend who wanted to base a character off of me. He thought me a pretty bad apple, so he picked the name. Later, when I had to think of a modeling pseudonym, it came to mind.

Were you trying to buck your otherwise pleasant disposition and striking feminine qualities by assuming such a name?
Pleasant disposition! You should tell that to my grade-school teachers. I like Molly Crabapple because it captures a certain smartass quality that's pretty much hardwired into my mental makeup.

My implying that you are easy on the eyes is an observation, not gratuitous flattery. What effect has your appearance had on how you are received as an artist?
I'd be lying if I said that being pretty hasn't opened doors. I first got to meet the talented artists who have given me so much good advice when I was posing at the Society of Illustrators. But the greatest thing that my looks have done for me as an artist is financial. They saved me from staffing the counter of Pearl Paint, the fate of so many of my classmates. Instead of bagging glue sticks for 6 dollars an hour, I modeled.

Does being a model, in any way, undermine your artistic ability? Has your talent as an illustrator ever come out after someone has gotten to know you as model and been glossed over?
I always worry that a corporate client will be offended by my sordid past. So far, this hasn't been the case. Occasionally, people assume that models are idiots (why else would we be taking off our clothes) and refuse to believe that I drew those pictures on my promo card. However, more often, people who knew me as an illustrator are shocked to learn I model. Once, an art director I was working for saw my modeling portfolio. Within five minutes, he was panting into the phone, asking if I had a boyfriend. If only he paid me extra!

You've done some extensive traveling. Has it all been in the spirit of artistic development: Trying to capture the bohemian wanderlust, visiting artistic communities in other countries, or were you sight-seeing?
I started traveling because I had read a lot of books and was convinced that everything exciting happened in Europe. Later, traveling became a combination of extreme sport and religious ecstasy. In an effort to prove that I was bad-ass, I went to increasingly obscure and dangerous places. Never mind the essential silliness of using other people's lives as a proving ground. With the first book of the Koran memorized and conversational Arabic and Turkish under my belt, I traveled around Morocco and Turkish Kurdistan. Eventually, I reached the Iranian border and my American passport stopped me from going any further. When I total up my time abroad, I've visited four continents, snuck into mosques, been detained in jails, drew for bread, lived in attics, and filled five huge leather bound sketchbooks.

I'm personally fond of your rendering of La Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona.
Thank you. Gaudi is the best.

What is your opinion on the current state of NY Art scene? Does it even exist?
The New York art scene is still alive, well, and swilling cosmopolitans. There are many scenes. White-walled, conceptualist galleries in Chelsea. The scruffier, freeform spaces in Williamsburg. Or Soho's unbelievably posh, neorealist preserves. Whether I like all this is another question. The high end of the New York art world has always had a huge prejudice against illustrators. I feel much more at home on the West Coast, with its Juxtapoz-bred, pop surrealist galleries.

Is it comprised mostly of older sophisticates or a younger avant-garde set?
Depends on the neighborhood.

How much of a spill over do you see between the art scene and other scenes, punk/porn/goth/metal/rock scene, if any?
Some, but limited. CBGB's Gallery 313 has amazing exhibits. But dark, noisy, sloppy rock shows are lousy environments for displaying art, and in most art/music events the artwork loses out. Rock posters, though, are awesome. On the art/porn front, one cool development has been the alliance of the alterna-porn giant Suicidegirls.com and the pinup artist Rion Vernon (http://www.pinuptoons.com). Rion's done card decks, calendars, and (coming soon), T-shirts for SG. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this will lead to a renaissance in the drawn image, with illustrators walking about draped with nubile groupies. A girl can dream.

There seems to be a conscious effort to create a distinct ambiance to accompany your work. Are you trying to renovate the art scene?
Hell yes! New York's always been Babylon, a self created city. You have to create the New York you want each day. In my dream of New York, artists aren't isolated in studios or ivory towers. I want an art world that's fun and talent-loving and decadent- a 21st century Montmarte. And I want openings that anyone can have a blast at. So I throw art parties with go-go dancers and hot jazz singers, silly manifestos and booze a'plenty.

What is it about burlesque that attracts you so? Is there any particular scene in a book or movie that captures the essence behind what you'd, ideally, like to see at an exhibition of yours?
I love the period from 1880-1930 that goes by the name of vintage. Burlesque dancers, with their fans, tits, and spangles, their dark clubs and old jazz, play into all my boozy Toulouse-Lautrec fantasies. I got into burlesque as a poster artist. Soon, I was powdering Dirty Martini's breasts backstage. It wasn't long before I became a dancer. A scene in a book? Since my favorite books are biographies, I’ll say my ideal art show's a mix of an intrigue-filled Oscar Wilde soiree and one of Frida Kahlo's tequilla n' ideology fueled dinner parties.

You recently had a gallery event at the Jigsaw. How did it go?
The show was amazing. Over 200 people showed up, and pictures were selling within ten minutes. A model friend of mine, the ever-ravishing Lady J, was gogo-dancing in the window, and three fire trucks circled our block for the first hour honking. Jigsaw's owner, Ben Jones, understood my ideas perfectly. He gave me everything from black and white snacks to a brutishly handsome bouncer. Midway through, World Famous BOB and Dirty Martini walked in together like two visions from the planet Sugurfluff. After it was over, I nearly fainted from overwork.

Why the farewell to Pen and Ink? Do you think you'll ever return to it?
I've been doing pen and ink for three years. It got easy for me. I'm sure I'll return to it. It's my visual language. But I want to focus on colour.

If Pen and ink is out, then what is in?
Pen, ink, and watercolour! And oils! Actually, I'm working on two series right now. The first series of paintings are based on murder ballads (you know, those Appalachian folk songs where guys bash their girlfriends' heads in with rocks). I'm turning the killers and victims into religious icons- with the occasional sarcastic touch. The second is a series of portraits of New York's burlesque and sideshow folk. It's impossible to be surrounded by such vivid people and not paint them

What formal training do you have as an artist?
I'm an art school dropout. For my real training, I thank my mom, (an incredible illustrator in her own right), Victorian etchings, coffee, good friends, the Society of Illustrators, and my amazing boyfriend.

As someone who had a cursory tryst with drawing as child, There is something I really dig about the combination of words and illustrations. Examples of this would be Lewis Carroll and J. Tennial, In Alice in wonderland; and George Macdonald and Hughes, from the Light Princess. A more recent, and tragically over, marriage of the two was Hunter S. Thompson and Robert Steadman (of Fear and Loathing fame). How do you feel about the two together?
I love the combo. In fact, it's the reason I went into illustration. When I was traveling, I regarded my illustrated journals as my pride. Now, two of my dreams are to turn my online essay collection, "Confessions of a Naked Model", into a syndicated, illustrated column, and to provide artwork for my favorite books.

In keeping with the spirit of New York Waste, What is your favorite haunt (bar, lounge, alley), and what is your favorite alcoholic beverage?
My favorite bar is Williamsburg's Spuytan Duyvil. Most bars are dark and loud, so you won't offend potential sexual partners with your pimply face or bad disposition. But Spuytan is bright enough to draw all night in, with a huge selection of odd port wines. Plus, it looks like a curio shop. Favorite drink? The dirty girl scout.

Do you have any upcoming events?
A gallery show of my circus portraits is in plotting stage. Picture on opening with human statues, gogo girls, and sword swallowers galore. Just no fire breathers near the paintings.

Molly can be reached at mollycrabapple@gmail.com