Hey Reilly

How did your education at the Royal College of Art (RCA) shape your career path?

Winning a place at the world’s leading postgraduate art & design university was down to the genius mentoring of the professors at Dundee University, and for that I will be forever grateful. The RCA gave me the freedom to break boundaries, and for me a part of that was making clothes and painting on them. Best of all, it instilled in me a sense of joy in creating; that hard work can be fun too.

It seems in the past year you’ve been focusing on fast food and luxury fashion brands. How do these two things collide for you?

I’m interested in the way brands use their names and logos in an almost iconoclastic sense, using non-verbal sign systems. I look for identities that have wide international recognition, but also have space and flexibility in their iconography. Fast food and fashion brands are the perfect symbols of what I’m interested in exploring. However, I’ve recently started looking at perfumes, films and car brands as well.

Your work often riffs on popular brands and pop culture figures. Do you often run into copyright issues and how do you handle them?

The creative work which I do for brands is a far cry from the more disruptive images I share on Instagram. Those images are designed to have an instant slap or hit of recognition for the viewer, so pictures of well known celebrities or logos become my most basic tools. As an artist, I try not to be too constrained by any thoughts of copyright in the initial idea. Generally I work within the concepts of “fair use,” when I parody or satirize the object of my image.

What role does your positive attitude play in your art?

I’m a naturally positive person. I think this is because of my history and my education, which led me towards that kind of energy thus leading to my kind of work. I use Instagram mostly because it seems to function best when images are made and then shared with a positive energy. I also think that when positivity and optimism is transcended into art and fashion, social media can be used to work for the good of all as well as to enthuse and excite.

What accomplishment are you most proud of so far?

There’s so many things to be proud of! I’m proud to be working with brands and people that I love, I’m proud of my Instagram feed and its growth. I’m particularly proud of the work I’ve done with Fendi, helping make Fendi Mania such a worldwide event, it’s mind blowing! In the future, I hope to be just as proud of the new projects I have coming up, which I’m very excited about.

What’s one piece of advice you would give to up-and-coming artists?

A couple of pieces of advice: find the fun in what you do, grow your style by working hard, share and interact with kindness and finally, work with people who share your positivity.

What is your dream collaboration?

Due to my love for fashion and branding, my work with Fendi was a dream come true, and I’d love to continue our collaboration. After such a career high, anything else would be a bonus! I really love perfumes and scent and would love to work on a project from start to finish, and get really involved in every aspect of the project. I also think I’d have a lot of fun working with a jewelry designer.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Fit and healthy and having fun making new work.

You can only listen to 3 albums for the rest of your life. What do you choose?

1. PJ Harvey – Let England Shake 2. Philip Glass – Einstein On the Beach 3. Cocteau Twins – Head Over Heels

What comparisons are you drawing when you combine a historical figure and a pop culture icon?

I like to leave any meaning in the comparisons to the viewer. In my opinion, that’s the true beauty of art. My impulse when making the combinations is to use well known images that function as “signs,” perhaps of a God-like nature in art, beauty or celebrity, and make a new sign. This new sign fuses modern icons with classical icons. I like to think of them as fresh icons, as new messages for eternity.

How does irony shape your work?

Irony is a key element of the British sense of humor, so I suppose I unintentionally work in that way some of the time. I don’t start with trying to be cynical or funny. For me, my work starts by being interested in how I can play with an idea in a way that makes it into something else. I try not to over-analyse why things work, but I like the images that I share on social media because of the “slap” of recognition they have on the viewer.

What was your creative process when creating the t-shirt line?

The REILLY t-shirt range springs from ideas that I play with on Instagram. I see t-shirts as a similar space to share messages and signs as sharing images on an Instagram page. The key, and beautiful, difference is that the t-shirt then becomes the vehicle for sharing the sign, but rather than online, it’s out in the real world and on real bodies! I love that thought.