A few months after the grand opening of Antonio Soares' solo exhibition at the Footwear Museum in S. João da Madeira City, we're delighted to share an exclusive interview with the artist, revealing the inspirations behind his life and art. So, how did your career in fashion illustration begin?
My path was quite experimental. I spent three years trying to discover an aesthetic that would respond to my desire to "want to be". Fine Art was a big surprise at first, both on a personal level and on an artistic level in the learning process. I was expecting an overwhelming and emasculating academicism, but years later it gave me instrumental tools and ways of thinking outside the box. But drawing was my passion, it was my mother subject, the one that taught me everything, the one I explored the most and invested the most in. Alongside my studies, opportunities arose to illustrate schoolbooks, where I developed a kind of commercial illustration, but nothing surprising, it was just a job. In the more specific field of fashion illustration, a few years later, when I started teaching at CITEX (now MODATEX), I began a personal fashion illustration project: illustrating Portuguese and international fashion designers. I felt that this was the only way I could better understand the new world of fashion I was entering by illustrating it. The internet helped to chart this accidental course and the nickname appeared: FASHION illustrator!
Throughout your professional career you have collaborated with national and international fashion publications, luxury brands and designers of recognised merit. How have these experiences influenced your individual illustration work?
When I started getting commissions in this area, it changed the way I thought about fashion illustration. Tight deadlines required a certain rationality and a detachment from my aesthetic, yet I always managed to be and do what I like in most of these projects. The job I remember, where I really had to change practically my entire métier, was a proposal for Karl Lagerfeld with a very objective brief. At the time, I didn't do full-length illustrations, but rather jokingly "fashion portraits". Adapting to the client's needs has always been a priority in my work and consequently a renewed learning process.
Your compositions clearly include elements of nature, animals and specific plants. Do these birds, insects, flowers and plants have a particular symbolism in your universe? What motivates your selection of some over others?
Yes. They are both a recurring feature in my work and in most of my personal projects. This organic and romantic universe has been part of me since I was a child. It evokes my memories of the Garden, which sometimes has a smell. These are the elements that help tell my story and are also part of it. They are active participants in the composition, giving it even more life as they dialogue with the whole. We also have a rich and inspiring nature, which I strive to discover and get to know when I incorporate it into my illustration work. In my work, they sometimes end up being pictorial narratives, stories illustrated with love. A symbiosis between the organic and the fashion object. A way of celebrating and praising life, a unique way of communicating and presenting a product.
For your ideas to take shape, do you choose the soundtrack first or open the watercolour box?
Music is also part of my creative process, it helps organise the ideas that take shape on the sheet of paper. I feel that practically all my work has a soundtrack that adds identity and personality to the illustration. The brushstroke, in tune with the sound, leaves a trail, glazing of colour on the paper, where the parts take on a silhouette of their own.
What are your references, inspirations in the field of illustration? If you had to name one and only one reference, who/what would it be?
A difficult question and always unfair to answer! My Mother, of course, because she introduced me to colours, showed me materials and laid down the first rules. She showed me museums and vinyl, taught me how to draw clouds and write love. The books were big and the drawings even bigger, and the desire to BE grew. Music, cinema, a museum, dance and fashion are always my artistic references and my source of inspiration.
What do you feel when you illustrate? Do you find that "state of grace" of pure fulfilment? And do you get different feelings when you illustrate for yourself and for client work?
The illustration process, whether personal or for a client, always begins with gathering information, creating a visual and mental mood board. And so begins the chaos, the excitement, the anguish and the pleasure of seeing it appear. All these feelings disappear when my world becomes paper. As l illustrate, I gain serenity and pleasure. The story is already beginning.
Watching you illustrate with your delicate and meticulous drawing technique is very relaxing. Is it for you too?
I consider myself privileged to do what I love. I've always liked oil, graphite and coloured pencils, but for practical reasons of drying and transport, I chose to experiment with watercolour. The nuances, glazing, transparencies and colour/pigment are perfect for the format I work in, combined with the technique I'm always trying to improve. Combining the pleasure of what I do with discovering what the material gives me is my greatest achievement. The detail is intricate and entices me to discover. The whole process is pleasurable, relaxing and gives me peace.
What has been the most challenging project of your career?
All of them.
Is there a visual memory from your childhood that inspires you to this day?
The memory of a red lipstick recurs. How it drew my Mum's mouth, radiating confidence and leaving a lasting impression of elegance.
Do you ever get tired of a colour?
No.
'Antonio, Untitled' runs til April 27, 2025.