MAKE MORE THINK LESS
Isa Grütter - Illustrator and one half of a drawing duo with Mick Johan
Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your work?
Drawing is my favourite thing to do. I want to draw everything, preferably together with someone else. For the rest, I like drinking, smoking and tennis, just like my dad. I illustrate for newspapers and magazines, and I’m also one half of a drawing duo with Mick Johan. We work in black and white, using charcoal and ink, and every drawing is touched by both of us. We’ve exhibited from Amsterdam to Tokyo, made a book, and create posters, zines and T-shirts.
Our work explores human desire, confusion, love, s3x and failure. I also love making zines with my huge photocopier, layering drawings and creating new work quickly. I’ve always been fascinated by facts, strange stories and beautiful publications. Growing up between Italy, Amsterdam, and a German and Swiss family, I often felt a bit in-between. Creating my own language through drawing has always felt important to me.
Did you always know you wanted to become an illustrator?
No. If you think of it as searching for a way to express yourself outside of language, I’ve always been looking for different ways to communicate. For a brief period, I studied dance. But it wasn’t really for me - way too exhausting. I’ve always loved drawing, at art school I felt at home, so I knew I was heading in the right direction. After that, I started getting commissions, and the rest kind of happened (kind of) by itself.
How did you find your own style?
By making a lot, trying all kinds of different stuff and by looking at people I found cool. It think, and hope, it keeps changing as long as you keep working, looking around and keep changing yourself.
What was your first big break as an illustrator?
Mick Johan. (He really wanted me to say that) From the moment we started working together, everything fall into place. We became a machine. And because we created so much we got better. After working together for about a year and a half, we were invited to exhibit in Tokyo. That was the best thing ever. This week we’re going back to Japan for an exhibition and collaborative project with four Dutch and four Japanese artists. I’m really looking forward to it and to everything that comes out of that.
What has been the biggest challenge in building your career?
Getting started. Getting stuck. Finishing. Sending the invoice. And then there are the moments when you’re unhappy with your work, your client isn’t, or you simply don’t feel like working. Sometimes there’s no inspiration, no money, and you just want to lie on the floor. But overall, I really enjoy it. Working with someone else makes many of the struggles of being an artist disappear. You can leave the things you don’t enjoy to the other person. There’s no blank piece of paper staring at you, and you don’t have to finish a drawing if you get lost - the other person will figure it out.
What comes first for you: the idea or the image?
I don’t really think, I guess. Mostly, I start by copying something from a magazine, and it usually turns into something completely different.
What’s one thing you wish you knew when you were starting out?
I don’t have the feeling I really know stuff now. I just never stopped drawing, and now I'm an adult and people pay me for doing what I like best, which is great.
If you could try any other creative career for a year, what would it be?
I’d like to make huge blocks out of concrete or become a professional tennis player.