Amsterdam-based artist, Parra, is an art world anomaly. Slipping seamlessly between his identities as an illustrator, graphic designer, painter and sculptor, he always manages to bring a fresh approach to whatever project he’s working on. In recent years his iconic typography and characters have adorned products from Nike to Vans to Converse, and his work has been exhibited in galleries all around the world.  His upbeat illustrative style is completely unique and never fails to draw a smile. We caught a few precious minutes with the artist who’s always on the move.

Hey Parra, can you introduce yourself for us?

Hello there, I’m a 35-year-old child living and sometimes working in Amsterdam.

I ride an old bike and don’t have a driving license. If I had one I would go and buy a car today but probably won’t drive it, at least not fast, I don’t like fast driving.

What is that you do exactly? 

Some say I illustrate, some say it’s design, some say it’s art. It’s a combination of those three I guess. Most [of my] time goes in to making free works for my art shows here and there and for my small clothing line.

And how long have you been doing it for?

Not so long actually, I think I have been doing what I do now for about ten years, it all started when I moved to Amsterdam. It was actually Plan B for me because I really wanted to be a pro skater, but that didn’t really pan out. I was afraid of going too fast.

Your characters are instantly recognisable, how did your aesthetic evolve?

It did not start out that way: I started out trying some attempts at graphic design.

I wasn’t really happy how that went and I started drawing the type quite crudely. For some reason that worked for me, and it gave a lot more freedom to play with composition. In the beginning, I mixed these handwritten types with photos, but quickly started to illustrate very simple things to accompany the handwritten type, so it would look more as a whole. From that moment onwards I just started illustrating everything, and my characters and the way I draw type evolved from that.

It’s still changing to this day; sometimes it’s more detailed and sometimes I will have phases where it’s super minimal but just better drawn. Practice makes sort of perfect I guess.

You consistently use a limited palette, what attracts you to those colour combinations?

I use like a sky blue, an old pink, a rusty orange, blood red and black backgrounds or outlines usually if I do coloured work. In my experience, these colours complement each other; they just work and make me feel like the work is complete.

I also work in black and white a lot, that’s a whole different feel, more mature in a way – more serious maybe – and I find it amusing to do. Some of my darker, more sinister or ironic work is in color so it’s not that heavy on the eye, and the more silly work is in black and white. Black and white is simple to work with and colour is really a challenge to be honest. I seriously hate when I use yellow and green, it makes me feel sad and the work looks cheap in a way.

You work across a huge number of mediums including painting, print, sculpture and vinyl. How important is it to diversify your output?

Well it’s not really important to me actually, it just panned out that way. It would be actually easier for me to stick to one medium and run with that, but for some reason my work translates to a lot of mediums. For example, the sculpture works: that was never a plan, but the guys from Tokyo in Gent, Belgium, really convinced me that it could work and therefore we did it.

What’s your creative process? How do you stay motivated?

Staying motivated is difficult, especially in this time when there is so much stuff around you. Sometimes I might feel like, “why do I bother making something?” But just making new work and coming up with ideas for the artworks gives me enough motivation usually.

It also helps to not work that hard, and just let a day go by without feeling guilty about doing nothing, kind of recharging your battery in a way. I have the feeling that people work so much because there is so much pressure to be creative and have a nice Facebook page and also be a photographer/visual artist/fashion designer/illustrator and go to six parties every week and make sure you’re in the right party pictures and all that. Maybe it’s because I’m in my thirties, but I find taking a break every now and then, and doing absolutely nothing, very inspiring.

How much has the Internet changed the way you work?

Everything goes a lot quicker now, that’s what I was talking about in the previous question. There is this race of constantly having content and being interesting. I obviously feel that pressure, too, sometimes, I’m not too sure if it’s a good thing though.

You’ve collaborated with some well-known street brands including Nike and Vans, how do you find working with such huge companies?

I must say, they’ve been very cool experiences. You won’t believe how much politics goes on in these companies, but it’s really nice to look behind the scenes and it’s kind of an honour that these huge moguls see myself as an added value to their brand. It feels like a nice pat on the shoulder, a bit of nice recognition. I would not want to do it all the time, though…it’s very time consuming and you’re working on stuff that will come out two years later!

Is there any one company that you’d really love to collaborate with?

It may be weird, but I would love to collaborate with PUCCI or some fashion house that makes great women’s dresses. I would love to make the art for the fabrics and see it worn by a beautiful woman, bit of a change from the streetwear thing I guess.

You also run your own label Rockwell, what motivated you to start your own company?

I started it with my friends Alecto and Goodwill ten years ago, back then there was not much going on t-shirt wise in Amsterdam. You had classics, but there was no weird new shit. So we decided to make just that: weird stuff.

Goodwill left after one collection to pursue his personal art and I took over together with Alecto. Since the third or fourth collection it kind of became my personal art show on tees a couple of times a year. And that’s still how I see it today, not necessarily a clothing line but more a canvas for my drawings and stuff.

Your career has really taken off over the past few years, how does it feel to gain that sort of recognition?

I don’t really notice it on a day-to-day basis, in my mind I’m always thinking ahead and probably not standing still to smell the roses, always running, maybe I should be standing still for a while. And sometimes when people give you a compliment and like your work, it feels like a combination between happy, awkward and abstract, but happy usually wins.

What are you working on for the future?

Aiming on doing another proper art show with lots of different works in different mediums and really big sculptures!

What’s the perfect day?

The day when that proper art show just closed its doors and it was a great opening.

Or when Masterchef Australia is on TV and watching that with my girl, Nicole, while having a pizza dinner.

Any shoutouts?

That’s what she said.

See more of Parra’s work at byparra.com or buy his stuff via Rockwell.