YKHA AMELZ
Ykha Amelz is an illustrator based on Jakarta, Indonesia. She also sings on the electroclash group, CUTS.
YKHA: “Be brave, play nice.”
[interview.officer murphy / pics.noran bakrie / August 2014]
Whats the latest projects that you're working on?
I'm currently building a womenswear brand with a few of my close friends.
Besides doing illustration for fashion spreads, what media do you love most?
Painting on canvas with graphite and acrylic.
Whats the most unusual stuff that you're working with?
Once I did illustrations for fodder (makanan ternak) packaging. The client asked me to draw catfish, tilapia, grouper, milkfish, all kinds of shrimps, etc. My friends thought I was drawing them for a warung seafood.
Tell us a bit on your preparation on yout latest and upcoming exhibition..
Still the same as usual. Stretching brain and heart to find out what I'm gonna paint and then start painting like maling dikejar satpam. I got a bad habit of starting working at the last minute. Must work on that.
So You're currently setting up a new studio.. Where is it? So what's your version of the perfect environment for working?
In between Antasari and Kemang, South Jakarta. It doesn't look like much now. Promise myself I'll decorate more. My perfect working space would be covered with lots of books, loads of blank canvas and paper, tube of paints and pencils ready to be use, white walls, white floors, The Kills or Lana Del Rey playing on my iTunes, Babbot and Lips sleeping on the corner, and a large box of pizza.
How is it going with your band CUTS? Who's the current line up?
We have our ups & downs with the frequent changing of the line up. Almost everybody in the band have a new family to take care of now. Itta moved to Jogja to be with her family and her new born baby, Deeda and his wife also been blessed with a baby, I moved to Jakarta to be with my husband. So it's been really hard trying to manage a schedule for CUTS. It's kind of a miracle we manage to release our first album 'RRRADARRR' under FFWD Records this year, after 7 years of cooking it. The current line up is still me & Itta for vocal, Deeda on the guitar, Ami on the drums. We're lucky enough to find amazing additionals like Okky Ade Chandra for our additional guitarist & Rara Utami to fill in Itta's position while she's busy being a mother to her daughter.
Tell us a bit on your old collaboration artwork with us.. whats the image meaning and what's that illustration is based upon?
The t-shirt collaboration? 'Smirk' is about that moment you can put a big ass smile on your face after you got thru a dark era and you can laugh about the bad things that happened to you.
Favorite things to draw?
Clouds & my fat dog, Babbot.
You've had a way with drawing hairs. What's the longest time you spent drawing details & hairs?
Usually 8 hours a day to work on the details till done. If I don't know when to stop I will not get my sleep.
Tell us a bit about your dogs that you draw a lot..
Lots of people asked me about them lately hahahaha.. I think they got their own fan base. LOL. The one with the beard, Lips (scottish terrier), is your typical good boy. The fat one, Babbot (french bulldog), thinks she's a queen even tho she can't hear anything. Yes, I got her checked and the doctor said she can't barely hear a thing. She's funny as hell. I adore them.
You're also a TV buff.. What serials are you currently watching? recommend us a few good ones..
I know I'm late but I just finished watching the whole seasons of Breaking Bad. Couldn't stop. Finished it in just 3 days! Current ones..mmm.. Game of Thrones, Shameless, and Penny Dreadful. Anything with Eva Green in it is worth watching.
Last shout outs?
Be brave. Play nice.
