Chris is 30 years old. His drawings are laughably crude, nonsensically captioned and also hugely popular. Operating under the moniker of Chris (Simpsons Artist) purely because the only other fact known about him other than his age is his love of The Simpsons, Chris’ art has been used by major publications, put on display in art galleries and sold on the internet to his masses of fans. He’s an anonymous phenomenon, but I was quite determined to try to scratch beneath the surface and reveal a few more truths about him. Here’s the result of my efforts…
CRAVE ONLINE: How did you first start out as an artist?
CHRIS (SIMPSONS ARTIST): i started being a artist when i was 5 years old and from every single day from then on i have always been a artist and i dont think that i would even be able to stop being a artist because once you are a artist you can never not be a artist because it is part of who you are inside of yourself and it has grown around your bones and inside of your muscles and in between every single hair on your head.
When did you first realise that you could make a living off of your caricatures?
i think that it was when i made my first 100 t shirts of osama bin laden saying get bent saggy on them and when they went on the internet for people to buy them for themselfs they all sold in 2 hours and that is when i knew it and i said to myself inside of my head that i knew it as well.
What is it about your caricatures that you think has captured the imagination of so many people?
i think that people just really like my pictures because they are detailed and they are honest and they are a like films that dont move or books that dont have any pages and i think that people just like that sort of thing so that is why people like having a look at my pictures.
What first inspired you to become an artist?
when i was in portugal when i was a little boy there was a old man that drawed my portrait next to a restaurant that me and my mum had just gone to and i can remember all of the people crowding around the old man and they was saying he is drawing the little boys portrait and everyone was dead impressed and a lady kept on saying that she was going to go back to her hotel because her shoes were hurting her feet but her husband was saying that he wanted to watch the old man having a draw of me and that is what made me want to become a artist.
You’ve got yourself a whole bunch of fans following you on Facebook and Twitter – what did you do to help build up such a big following?
i just made my facebook page on the internet to show my mum my pictures when i moved out of her house and i moved in to my own house because my mum got me my own house because she said that she needed to have a break from me because putting loads of my hair inside of the chicken for a sunday joke that i made up was the last straw so i made my facebook page on the internet so i could still show my mum my pictures even though i wasnt living with her any more and i started sending my mum my pictures and then loads of people from all over the world started being my friend on facebook and now i have got more friends than i could ever imagine and i am very blessed to have so many kind people in my life.
The internet is a great starting place for creative types, but many find the idea of putting themselves out there in order to get noticed a little daunting. What advice would you give to those people?
i think that to be able to achieve all of the things that you want to in your life you sometimes have to do some things that you might not want to do to be able to get to the part in your life where you wish to be in and it is all about having confidence and believing in yourself.
Other than telling fans that your name is Chris, you’re 30 years old and you like The Simpsons, you’ve kept most things about you a secret. Is this because you yourself were intimidated by the prospect of putting yourself out in the public eye?
i just think that it is more interesting to not know everything about something or someone than to know everything and there is so many people in the world that tell everyone else all that there is to know about them and i dont really like that because i like the mysterious things in life because then you have to use your imagination more and using your imagination is something that a lot of people dont really do because of televisions and the internet.
Despite social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter offering famous people a platform to talk to and connect with their fans, you rarely hear of them doing so. However, since you first started garnering attention as an artist, you’ve been very communicative with your fans. How important do you think it is that you maintain this friendly kind of relationship with them?
my mum has always said to me that it is important to always talk to your friends because if you dont talk to your friends then you wont have any friends to talk to so that is why i always talk to my friends.
Are you finding it more difficult to connect with your fans now that there are so many of them?
there is always time for friendship and i dont look at the hours of the day as loads of minutes i look at it as our day with loads of moments.
Your art features the kind of irreverent humour that typically goes down well with the internet crowd. Was it a conscious decision on your behalf to create stuff that would appeal to that demographic, or has that just always been your style?
i am not quite sure what you are meaning to me but i like to be stylish as much as i can so that is why i always make my own outfits because then you can stand out more and make a real impression when you are at the shop or if you are in town doing some shopping.
i think that people will forever be interested in art if art is forever interesting.
As someone who is working on both the internet and in printed publications, what are your thoughts on the effect the internet is having on the declining sales of magazines, newspapers etc.?
whenever i go to tescos the first place i always go to is the magazine bit and i always have done since i was a little boy and there is always loads of people standing having a read of all of the magazines at the magazine bit so i dont think there is anything to worry about it is fine.
Your art seems to have inspired many people to produce similar content, with Tumblr pages such as ‘Paint Is So Good’ even seemingly copying your childlike persona. Are you flattered by this, or do you think that people should be more original with their art?
i dont mind what other people do in their lifes to make themselfs happy for as long as they arent hurting anyone else while they are doing it but i think that it is important if you want to achieve happiness to always be yourself and to be true to who you truly are inside of yourself.
What do you hope the future holds for you?
when i close my eyes and imagine my future inside of my head i can see me as a old man and i am looking out of a window and i am smiling and i am saying thank you.
‘Like’ Chris (Simpsons Artist) on Facebook
