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Buenos Aires-born Fernanda Cohen is making waves with her fanciful illustrations that have garnered an amazing 50 awards worldwide. She has received gold and silver medals from the Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles, a silver medal from the Society of Illustrators of New York, first prize by Creative Futures (UK) Communication Arts, as well as awards from HOW, Graphis, American Illustration, Lürzer’s Archive (Austria), Applied Arts (Canada), and Curvy (Australia).

Now based in New York after her graduation from the School of Visual Arts in 2000, Cohen is busy making her mark with commercial works with The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Target, Travel and Leisure, Continental Airlines, Sony, MTV, The Guardian, Telegraph, Cosmopolitan, Paper, W Hotels and Harvard Business Review.

Her other projects include her own line of porcelain, Reina Renée (Argentina); a collection of post-it notes, Les Filles (France); a children’s book published by Scholastic; and her independent line of handbags, Lilah Bags.

iSh catches up with this prolific illustrator and finds out what makes her tick.

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Illustration made light:

FeRNANdA COHeNWhat are your favourite subjects to illustrate? Why?I love illustrating dancing women, naked people and extreme facial expres-sions. I also love creating patterns and being playful in my drawings. All these elements seem to reflect the bubbly state of mind I seem to live in. I like the thought of making people smile, even if only subtly.

That’s true. Your works have that peculiar dream-like, happy and playful qual-ity to them. Some of it is rather disturbing (for example, Let’s Cook, Doc!). Where do you pull out your imagery and ideas from?Sometimes they are visions that I get before I fall asleep or right after I wake up. They’re also ideas I drag out from the depths of my thoughts, which we all have but don’t always wish to unlock.

How did you come up with your signature style of thin, distinctive lines and delicate colours?Part of it was my reaction to people’s reactions to my work when I was first getting started; most of it is natural and intangible.

What were people’s reactions to your early work?They liked the simplicity of it, when it was actually simple, so I further sim-plified my style. Art directors in the illustration field didn’t know what to do with me, because my work looked too different, or too expressive, and they couldn’t quite categorise it. On the other hand, fine arts people didn’t fully “accept” my work because it was too illustrative. In the end, I’m glad I chose my own path; it was a bit harder but definitely worth it.

Congratulations on being awarded two silver medals for your War of Words series. Could you tell us more about its concept?Thank you!

War of Words focuses on the dynamics behind ten different universal argu-ments: politics, love, childhood, sports, customer service, religion, protests, family, friendship and self.

In the history of human interaction and communication, we’ve always argued over the same issues in all kinds of different languages and cultures. The se-ries shows my interpretation of these issues by following the words whose movement changes depending on the relationship between the arguers and the subject matter being discussed.

How would you describe yourself?I’m a natural optimist and an incurable workaholic.

How did you get started in illustration?I went to college for illustration at the School of Visual Arts in New York and worked my way up from there. My first paid assignment was illustrating win-dows for a chain of fashion stores at Fifth Avenue, Broadway, SoHo, and Lin-coln Center. My first editorial assignment was for The New York Times and it was published the weekend of my graduation.

What are you like when you’re working on your illustrations?I’m quiet. I can’t help having my mouth half-open. I’m fully immersed and eternally happy. And I don’t like to be interrupted.

If you could collaborate with another person, who would it be? Why?James Jean (www.jamesjean.com), no doubt. He’s a contemporary genius and a good friend of mine. Otherwise, I’d like to work with the Japanese artist Takashi Murakami and American fashion designer Betsey Johnson.

What was the biggest obstacle you faced whilst you were working in New York?I’m still working in New York. The biggest challenge has always been staying on and constantly without a break.

Could we get your impression of the arts scene in Buenos Aires?I didn’t study art in Argentina, and have spent my adult life in New York, so my vision is somewhat limited. I was brought up in Buenos Aires though, so I do understand the essence of the city and its people pretty well. Buenos Aires, its past and roots are directly connected to Europe, but it’s geographi-cally South American. This results in a great combination of rich cultures that make porteños (Buenos Aires natives) all at once open-minded, sophisticated, deeply conceptual, cultured and warm.

How does Buenos Aires’s arts scene fare as compared to New York?Artists in Argentina have limited resources, thus they struggle to make things happen with the little that they have. New York is not only a richer city where you can find just about anything, but artists are also compensated more gen-erously. However, artists in Argentina tend to be more open-minded, without creative limits, while artists in New York can be somewhat structured and more profit-driven.

“Sometimes they are visions that I get before I fall asleep or right after I wake up. They’re also ideas I drag out from the depths of my thoughts, which we all have but don’t always wish to unlock.”

Pasta and I Blue Petit

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You have garnered over an amazing 50 awards for your works. What’s your secret?No secret really. I’m a hard worker, I’m really focused and I absolutely love what I do.

Would you consider your personal works fine art? Why?Yes, absolutely. Because it’s art, the same way as Leonardo da Vinci’s work is considered to be fine arts as well as illustrative.

What is your favourite series?It’s hard to say. I’m somewhat obsessed with my latest “child” until the next one comes along. That said, there are a couple of pieces from the Food Af-fair series that I always think of as my best work. But I think War of Words is stronger conceptually and, sometimes, visually too.

You put up, on average, one exhibition every three months in 2007. Tell us, where at and what would your dream exhibition be?I’d love to be recognised as a draftsperson/artist/illustrator by the MoMA (The Museum of Modern Art), the Drawing Center in New York and by the MALBA (Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires) in Buenos Aires. I would exhibit whatever they are interested in, although, I would really enjoy exhibiting my personal series.

Come July 2008, you will be co-chair for ICON 05 (The Illustration Confer-ence). Tell us more about the conference and your role as co-chair. I’m the co-chair of the Events Committee, which is in charge of all the so-cial events, such as receptions and galas, and all the activities outside of the speaker sessions, such as workshops, roadshows, exhibitions and tours.

ICON 5 is a four-day conference packed with the top people in the fields of graphic design and illustration, including Milton Glaser, Steve Heller, Mirko Ilíc, Seymour Chwast, Christoph Niemann, James Jean and many more. ICON is the only illustration conference in the USA. This year it will take place in New York over the Fourth of July weekend. For more info you can visit www.theillustrationconference.org.

Tell us about your Lilah Bags. The Lilah Bags is an independent project and it is inspired by my cat Lilah. Her name means “night” in Hebrew, because she’s completely black. The designs feature Lilah playing around on top of different, colourful patterns, which subtly turn three-dimensional to allow Lilah to play with them. They are fabric-woven and shoulder handbags, big enough to fit a paper pad yet small and chic enough to wear on a night out.

What else have you got lined up for the rest of 2008?I’m planning on exhibiting War of Words at a New York gallery, although I don’t have a confirmation yet. I’m working on an ad campaign for the adver-tising agency DDB (www.ddb.com), as well as a handful of editorial illustra-tions in the US and Australia. My first children’s book is being published this year by Scholastic. I’m also working on my first animation project for a band in Argentina. I’m looking into producing Reina Renée, my porcelain kitchen-ware, in the US later this year. I want to start doing more advertising, product and window illustrations, which is what I’m focused on these days.

For more information on Fernanda Cohen’s work, visit www.fernandacohen.com.

“I like the thought of making people smile, even if only subtly.”

War of Words on Love

Hotdog and I

Canning MoldPurple Petit