So you may have noticed that we released a digital album last week called "This Beat Is Poptronik – Volume One". Well aside from putting together this mammoth compilation album with Aztec Records and coordinating the behemoth that is the Poptronik Festival in Sitges, Spain there is one hell of a creative little man behind-the-scenes who has been working just as hard with us – and his name is Suprema!
Suprema is a student in Brighton and when I was looking for a digital artist to bring this project to life, I stumbled upon his artwork on Facebook and found myself mesmerized by what this little hipster was conjuring up. And after some chemistry in the way of passions and beliefs, Suprema was quickly brought onto team Poptronik to give the album and the festival a visual feel that is in line with what we want the new Poptronik brand to be all about.
We want you get to know and love Suprema as much as we do, so we sat down with him and did a wee interview. If you're looking for a good visual artist to work with – Gael (his real name) is your man. He's a superhero to us!
Hey Gael – We just have to say that from the first moment we saw your fan made work on Simon Curtis' digital booklet, we were stunned. What drives you as a designer to create such amazing artwork for your favourite musicians?
Hello, EQ Team! Thanks for these compliments; I’m glad you like it! Actually, working on fan made content like covers, posters, ads, and digital booklets now, is something I make since the beginning of my ‘career’ if I can call it like this. This is how everything began and keeps on going today! At the beginning, it was about Madonna only, and it gave me a lot of opportunities. Now, it’s also about other artists I like, and it keeps on opening me some doors, because every time I'm doing fan made content, I really try to open my vision to draw from the different artists' graphic universes. This attitude opens my mind, and finally I learn a lot of new things for my other projects. That’s why I’m not ready to stop doing it.
Who are you listening to a lot of these days? One thing I like about you is that you are also a fan of male-led pop.
Ah ah right! I don’t know why but I think male singers in Pop music are coming back, and it’s a real pleasure. We’ve always had male in Pop music, but they weren’t as powerful as the new generation.
These days, I’m listening to Madonna, Garçon Garçon, Sam Sparro, and Frankmusik. They all have powerful songs (my favourite track for each are “Gang Bang” for Madonna, “Stay In Touch” for Garçon Garçon, “The Shallow End” for Sam and “Somebody” for Frankmusik). As you can see, there are more boys than girls; but it’s a real coincidence, I just realized it!
Tell us a little bit about yourself – what are you getting up to mostly these days?
I was partly busy these days, working on some projects, especially for Poptronik Festival; but I also enjoyed my vacation in France, because the serious things are coming back next week! I needed some rest with my family and friends before to go back to university in England.
When you graduate, what career are you looking to pursue in the future?
Well, I graduate in June, but I'll stop my current studies after graduating to start something new in September… I know it’s really crazy to start something new now, but even if I like British and American History and Literature, I can’t imagine myself as a professor… My dream is to become an Artistic Director or simply a real Graphic Designer, that’s why I’m starting a Visual Communication School this year. I’m stuck in the scholar system for five more years!
What other artists inspire you?
The list can be really long, because anything can inspire me about an artist: his music and his lyrics (if he’s a musician of course), his attitude, his state of mind and his personality, his fashion style, etc. But the most inspiring (Madonna and Simon not included in the list because it’s evident they are inspiring for me) are Sam Sparro, Frankmusik, Natalia Kills, Jam Sutton, Kylie Minogue, Katy Perry, Rihanna, Julien and Stephane (two French photographers from Exterface Studio), and Franc Fernandez. There’s always at least one link between them, except for Julien and Stephane (but I hope it will happen soon): they all have at least worked with one other artist of this list, but I didn’t like them for their work in common at the beginning. Interesting, isn’t it? I think they all have something unique inside of them which produce something stimulating inside of me. And when they work together, it’s better.
As a French man living in the UK, what do you like about it? What do you hate about it?
I was ready to ask you “Have you seen in your life someone hating the UK?”, but in fact there are still some crazy people thinking life is better somewhere else! I think you’ve understood I fell in love with the UK… There’s something special there, something you can’t find in any other country. I will leave in June to go back to my hometown in France and I’m really sad about it. I’ve found in the UK what I wasn’t able to find in any other European country I’ve visited, especially in France: I call it “respect”. I know my knowledge about the UK is limited to the South East, and that everything is different in the North. I live in Brighton and sometimes go to London, and I like all these people wearing what they want to wear, saying what they want to say, always with a big smile on their face, because people around them won’t judge them. Even in Paris, the biggest city in France and one of the biggest cities in the world, people are not feeling free. I’m proud of my freedom, and living in England makes me feel better… Is it possible to deny your nationality because you don’t feel safe in your mind? I’ve discovered this year the answer is yes.
What's your most precious piece of fan art that you have created?
Aww… Do I have to pick only one? Well, I’ll try. The first on coming to my mind is a work I called “American Words”; I recreated Madonna’s “American Life” album cover only with the lyrics of the song. The inspiration came suddenly and it was incredible. Everything came naturally and when it was done, I couldn’t imagine the result was so amazing. I still like to look at it and go crazy trying the read the lyrics. This is only about my personal feeling. I also love Simon Curtis’ digital booklet, but I’ve already picked one work…
If you could collaborate artistically with any music artist right now, who would that be and why?
I would like to work with any musician in my ‘list of inspiring artists’, but I know it will not happen for years or decades… or more. I secretly believe in miracles and surprises, but they only happen with hard work and by word of mouth. But apart from this list, I would like to work with inspiring people full of crazy and coloured ideas in their head. It’s hard to find them, but when it happens, I always feel two little wings growing in my back and making me discover wonderful unexplored worlds.
It's all about the divas at the moment in pop – which diva are you most dedicated too right now?
Ah ah! Next question! No, I’m kidding. Actually, I partly answered before: Madonna, Kylie, Rihanna and Katy Perry are my favourites. I like the others too, and my iTunes is full of Pop Divas… Because my closest friends are fond of them! I’ve seen some of them live like Beyoncé, Rihanna, Madonna, Kylie, and every time it’s spectacular and it makes my love them more than before.
What is your current view on pop music and how does a compilation like "This Beat Is Poptronik Volume One" fit into you're musical landscape.
My view is that pop music is divided in two categories: the divas and the others. The divas are fighting for an imaginary throne which sometimes makes her crazy and makes the fans communities killing each other: it’s always a story of “who made the best performance?” or “who made the best song of the year?” and even “who wore the best dress for the Grammy Awards?”. Sometimes it’s interesting and stimulates the creativity, sometimes it’s fun and entertaining, but it’s often boring and disappointing. And then the second part is made of almost-unknown artists and unknown artists giving everything to show who they are and what they have inside. They are the roots of pop music, and they are coming from where every Diva came from; but sometimes it’s quite hard for them to access celebrity and be recognized for their talent. “This Beat Is Poptronik” shows us how we are far to know everything about pop music, and it’s really amazing. I can’t stop listening to all of the tracks because I like them all! I like all these people fighting for being recognized as the real artists they are. I know it’s just a sample of what we can find on Internet, and I would like to find out more artists like the one we can listen to on ‘This Beat is Poptronik’.
Thanks Gael – any parting words for our EQ readers? Where can we find you if we want to work with you in the future?
Thanks for reading! It was a pleasure to share my ideas and a piece of my life with you. If you want to discover my world, share your ideas with me, or work with me, there is only one link: www.itssuprema.com. Everything is here! Xx