Atlanta artist Sunflowerman has a passion for fashion. He takes men’s clothing and adds paint and ink to create pieces of art that are a tribute to fashion—and the personalities of the people wearing it. A creative for as long as he can remember, Matthew Miller (aka Sunflowerman), initially had a penchant for documenting people. In his illustrations, he captures the charm of his subjects with vibrant hues and flowing brushstrokes. After an introduction to the world of menswear, he combined the two worlds and began doing fashion portraits that are part prêt-à-porter, part Annie Leibovitz.
CommonCreativ spoke to Miller about his influences, the story behind his name and his recycled book-page illustrations.
CC: Why Sunflowerman?
MM: Sunflowerman is a funny name and has had numerous iterations over the years. It really began as a summer camp identity in my early 10s. Somehow it held on through the years and subtly bonded itself to my reality. Also, my name is Matthew Miller. I had a tough time of it trying to decide which name would more easily stand out in a crowd, so I flipped a coin and, as luck would have it, Sunflowerman landed face up.
CC: What initially attracted you to menswear illustrations?
MM: I cannot imagine a time when I would not have been drawing or painting or creating in some form or another. A friend of mine, Michael McLaughlin, introduced me to the world of men’s fashion about three or four years back. That, and a love for illustrating people, has informed my decision to enter the world of men’s fashion illustration.
CC: What story do you strive to tell through your illustrations?
MM: There are many reasons for the way I tell stories in my illustrations, but I’ll give you this quote: ‘The goal is always to illustrate people. People are interesting and worthwhile and beautiful. People wear clothing, people invent culture and people are beautiful.’
CC: What is the inspiration behind your book-page fashion illustrations? How do the words on the pages inspire you?
MM: Admittedly, it began as an accident. I was painting larger fashion portraits which took anywhere from four to eight hours to complete. At this point, I was beginning my fashion journey, and I wanted to learn as much as I could. There is something about a silhouette and the movement and shape of people wearing clothes and I needed to know it. I needed to feel it in my bones and in my soul before I could feel comfortable illustrating it.
Between the different fashion portraits, I was taking what scraps I had and doing one- to five-minute drawings with a brush and ink. When the scraps were gone, I had a book that was falling apart. It just so happened to be a book of a collection of Sherlock Holmes Short Stories from the 1950s. Sherlock is such a quintessential manly man. Even if the words on the page are not specific to the image, the character and the emotion are still carried through the page itself. Sherlock Holmes and men’s fashion illustration—it’s just perfect.
CC: Who are some of your favorite designers?
MM: Viewing this year’s men’s fashion week, I saw some amazing things with the E.Tautz, Hackett and D2Squared collections. I think that gives me away as a lover of men’s fashion nostalgia. I was turned on to Patrick Grant (E. Tautz) by a man I respect who is attempting to do amazing things in the fashion world in the UK, and Hackett simply spoke to my heart in a deep, emotional, ‘lizard-brain’ kind of way. D2Squared was just pure magic.
CC: Additional subjects of your art include animals, iPhones and Middle Earth. What qualities stand out to you in subjects and compel you to create their likeness in ink?
MM: I blame Caravaggio, Alphonse Mucha and almost any comic book. Strong contrast and bold lines are my filthy addiction. The subjects are beautiful and the inks are compelling.
CC: What do you think of Atlanta’s creative community? How do you think it differs from other city’s scenes?
MM: I cannot say with confidence much about the creativity of other cities. What I hear is that other cities tend to have a more cohesive arts culture. Atlanta is spread into Castleberry Hill, the West Side, Miami Circle, Ponce Crush, Buckhead and wherever else people are inspired to ‘set up shop.’ It mimics the nature of Southern cities in that way—everything is spread out. I love it. The beauty is that you are not stuck with what you see in one place and then you have to shove off to some shack of a place selling your granddad’s paintings from when he was a boy. In Atlanta, that granddad’s paintings are available and so are so many other beautiful creations. We haven’t even hit on the outstanding effect of events such as Flux, organizations like Living Walls and non-profits like One Love Generation. And I’ve only mentioned the visual arts community—I know several people who would sit down over a beer and explain the music culture of Atlanta for hours. The Woodruff Arts Center has established high culture events centering around big name visual artists, classical music and large production dramas. Suffice it to say that you don’t even have to seek out the creative community in Atlanta—they’ve already found us.
CC: Your predominant mediums are paints and inks. What drew you to them?
MM: Donna ‘Lyle’ Casmere is the most amazing art teacher in the United States. It was my amazing privilege throughout high school to have her knowledge and passion as inspiration. What was probably my first pen drawing is still hanging in the halls at the school. She introduced me to my fist true love—watercolors. We had a hard break-up but we are more in love now than ever. I can remember finding this artist who drew these amazing pen drawings. Hours upon hours I would work to emulate the effect of small lines and big lines. The effortless beauty and hidden courage engaged me with fierce passion. I also attended art school for a few years, but I can only attribute little influence from the majority of my professors.
CC: Where can our readers see your work?
MM: A few great places to see Sunflowerman would be Condesa Coffee0 H. Stockton Midtown, High Cotton Ties and Trio Custom Clothier in Midtown. There are no current exhibitions planned, but I have some grand notions for my next show… think giant flowing paintings and rows of live canvas, as well as boring stuff like recycled book-page paintings and fashion portraits.
For more of Sunflowerman’s work , visit www.sunflowerman.com or find him in Instagram at @sunflowerman.
