What Would Tony Viramontes Do?
Asking for a friend.
The perfect hat to wear when one has a dilemma. A combination of a veil, roses and a wise cat.
Soon I will include comparisons of the work of Tony Viramontes and his friend and mentor Antonio Lopez.
First, I want to explore Viramontes’ versatility, and how he went looking for opportunities beyond fashion illustration until the opportunities came looking for him. Which is what tends to happen in life… isn’t it?
Just imagine if you had a steady day job, and everything was going fine and you felt you had settled in to a routine and that although you would rather be working on your own art stuff, the job paid the bills. You think the art stuff can wait until you retire and so you just carry on with the day job until you can join the other artistic retirees.
Viramontes was doing well, he was working all around the world after originally taking New York by storm. This was his day job. Now he was taking commissions in Tokyo, Germany and London. Remember, there was no internet in the early eighties, he had to go places in person. He worked on a beauty campaign for Rochas. He was becoming increasingly successful, living and working his illustration dream… and the momentum built up.
Viramontes, unencumbered by a mortgage or children (that I know of!) worked on his illustrations all day and then partied all night in Paris, or wherever he happened to be. He was always working though, looking out for models to inspire him. His philosophy was : “I look for new ideas because I always want to be in a state of creative anxiety and insecurity. If I feel sure of myself I cannot be creative. I try to renew myself.”
Thus he began to work with collage, using photographs and polaroids. He created album covers for the Duran Duran spin-off band Arcadia and the cover for Janet Jackson’s album Control. This was 1985, and Viramontes was already ill. In 1988 he had returned to his family home in Los Angeles where he died.
But No-one Ever Really Dies. Especially if they leave a legacy like Viramontes. I think if you have a mortgage and a child and a day-job but you want to be an artist full-time, Viramontes might say,
“Do what you have to do to honour those responsibilities. But never stop looking for opportunities. And sometimes an opportunity comes disguised as a massive problem. Sometimes life lets you down and robs you of that illusion of security. Then you worry about how you will meet your responsibilities.”
Viramontes might add, “This is when your creative anxiety and insecurity kicks in hardest- embrace it. It’s time to renew yourself.”
Thanks Viramontes, I’ll tell my friend.
