INTERVIEW-Ivan Peev

Hello Ivan, can you introduce yourself?

My name is Ivan Peev, graphic designer / illustrator based in Paris. I work for fashion, press, restaurant identity or with musical artists (Ofenbach or Damso for Spotify recently). I also take time to develop my own work.

How did you come to this job and how would you describe your style?

I've always wanted to do this, I came to professionalize myself as I worked with friends on projects.Concerning my style, I would say it's between realism and naivety.

I work a lot by hand, I like to have a rougher rendering, with material. I also like to mix techniques and do it instinctively depending on the project, pencil, gouache, watercolor or acrylic for example.

Where do you think this style comes from?

Simply from all my influences.

I fell into drawing at 13/14 years old through skateboarding. Both by discovering the work of Jimbo Phillips, Sean Cliver or Neck Face whose trash and humorous side of their illustrations really spoke to me but also by spending my days reproducing and hijacking skateboard brand logos to understand them.

Later I fell in love with the work of So Me, super naive and funny, and Steven Harrington, with his very pop colors. I read a lot of Clark Magazine, I got a slap in the face with all that culture at the time.

I'm also a fan of realist art, Hopper's work for his lights, Keith Harring for his line and Robert Indiana.

You're also a big T-shirt collector!

I've had this passion for a long time that my mother doesn't understand (laughs).
I must have 180 of them at home, 100/200 lying around.
I've been keeping some unconsciously since I was little and with time I realized that I loved to collect them, sometimes a little obsessively.
They are objects that are close to my heart and whose history touches me.

What kind of t-shirt do you collect?

It really depends on what I find and what I like.

And I buy them at a wide variety of prices, from the one dollar tee-shirt in a fridge in Canada to the two hundred euro tee-shirt on the net.

I have a real preference for those who have lived. Among my favorite T-shirts, there is for example this vintage Powell Peralta. It has aged so much that the cracked side almost looks like crocodile skin (laughs).

I see that you also have a lot of metal T-shirts.

In addition to loving the music, I love the aesthetics of the metal, I find the visuals super powerful and iconic.

I have every Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Rammstein, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden album.

I buy a lot of these T-shirts in Bulgaria. My parents are Bulgarian, I go back there often and there is a big metal community. There are a lot of cheap tee-shirts from bands.

And one of my favorite T-shirts is an original from the 1980 Metallica tour that my roommate bought me by chance for $20 in a fridge. In addition to the rarity, I think there's a crazy story behind it, that this t-shirt has been through some stuff.

To finish this interview, could you share with us your latest artistic favorites?

Since we were talking about metal, I loved the Stray From The Path album, big naked metal/hardcore punk really good. On the music side, I also loved Kevin Morby's album 'Harlem River'. And in painting, I would say the work of Matt McCormick!

Thanks Ivan !

Discover Ivan Peev's work on his website or on Instagram.