Meet Yasmin Naomi Jones

I have been absolutely obsessed with the gloriously grotesque art of Yasmin Naomi Jones. Sitting comfortably somewhere between Lisa Frank and H.R. Giger their playful use of the human form is nothing short of spectacular. Get to know this wonderful artist in our latest interview as we chat about truth lies and the meaning of art.

Two Truths and a Lie

(Answers at bottom of article)

Despite drawing them on everything, I’m terrified of all bugs EVEN BUTTERFLIES. Their flight pattern is too unpredictable.

There’s a hidden drawing of a penis in EVERY Beelzebaby drawing and when you find them all, YOU become the new supreme.

I don’t really believe in astrology (please don’t come for me) but my astrological chart says I’m a triple cancer which horrifies people but from what I’ve been told, adds up.

Would You Rather

have snails for hair or large bats for feet? Please explain your answer?

I would say Snails for hair. Seems like lots of opportunities for interesting hairstyles, also their mucus is supposed to be pretty hydrating! That might be a cute idea for a drawing too ! <3

Some questions with Yasmin Naomi Jones

You describe your work as “Lisa Frank On Acid”. What other inspirations can you cite that lead to your unique perspective and approach?

As a kid Lisa Frank and retro anime/mangas were the reasons I even started drawing in the first place, I feel like those influences are very apparent in the style I’ve developed and feels often like a fusion of the two. I’ve always been so fascinated with how Lisa Frank’s art is a whole world of its own because of her signature art style. Her work conveys pure joy but at the same time is very overwhelming with the amount of color, patterns, and movement in the imagery. Beelzebaby is kind of the alternate dimension of her work where everything is colorful and sparkly, but also kinda disgusting and fucked up, I really love blending my love for all things cute and all things sexual in my work. I also grew up reading a lot of manga and I admired the styles used by CLAMP (they were an all-female manga publication house). A lot of their work was very detail-oriented, romantic, gothic, and sometimes erotic with a lot of focus being put into fashion and eyes which are still my favorite things to draw. One of my earliest memories with art was trying to perfectly replicate a drawing of Card Capture Sakura, one of their mangas. As I’ve gotten older I’ve gotten more comfortable with being more personal with the themes in my art and include a lot of my desires, fantasies, fears, and anxieties into my pieces through exploring eroticism, gore, anything disgusting, I’m drawn to a lot of things that carry that kind of energy.

Was there any catalyst or inspiration that led you to start moving your work over to apparel?

I would say that my connection to my style and my illustrations are pretty similar and that they are constantly inspiring each other, they both are my main sources of self-expression. It's always been my intention to combine them but I really wanted it to be done in a way where the art wasn’t just on clothing, but the clothing itself is more so the art. I had always heard of people using sharpies to draw on shirts and I was really inspired by one artist named Mobshitty on Instagram who makes incredibly detailed illustrations on clothing. I’ve always experimented with customizing clothing but was never using the right medium for me, I could never achieve the amount of detailing seen in my illustrations with a brush. I decided to try out drawing onto clothing itself and it’s been a really nice creative change of pace. It's been really helpful for my anxiety and helping me recenter during quarantine and processing a lot of 2020 and the challenging mental and emotional effects that come from months of isolation and pain.

How would you like viewers to engage with your work? / What do you hope to convey?

I recently misheard a friend and thought they had said my work was emasculating and now it’s kind of weird that I never made that correlation on my own because it is very much that. The world of Beelzebaby is femme-dominated and is not about idolizing cis heterosexual men in any way. I find the most joy in drawing women in confident, erotic, powerful positions as a reminder to myself and others to feel the same. Most of my pieces have a sort of grotesque sexuality to them and a lot of it is self-reflecting on my complicated relationship with sexuality and how to heal from trauma. I hope my work is interpreted differently depending on who the audience is, but especially within the audience it's made for, of femmes, queers, POCS I hope it can convey any form of empowerment and healing.

What, in your opinion, is the most important thing for artists to be doing right now?

I feel like the only important thing is to do what feels right as corny as that sounds. The year has been beyond emotionally exhausting. During this pandemic, I have had moments where I feel the most inspired I have in years to days on days of immobilizing depression. There should be no pressure to produce or emotionally process through your work during this time period if you emotionally can’t handle that right now, especially for black artists. It’s been a little anxiety-inducing feeling like I need to optimize all this free time I have in quarantine into constant productivity, but I’ve gotten better realizing I’m not being productive because I’m ignoring my emotional needs and need a break.

What is the best interaction you have ever had with a fan of your work?

I feel weird using the term fan but I haven’t had many, especially in real life. Most interactions are through Instagram, and It’s usually just sweet comments, and I appreciate all of them equally :) I’ve gotten some really fun requests though like drawing someones new born baby as a demon or writing “ I Love Sluts” on someone's shirt and those are always my favorite, but I do find it so interesting when people recognize me especially before quarantine when I wasn’t posting many pictures with my face in them. I use to work coat check in the darkest foggiest club in Brooklyn and I would get recognized the MOST there which was so funny because I didn't even know people could see me let alone anything at all.

Do you think art has to have a purpose/meaning?

I think all art has an underlying purpose for why it was made but I don’t think you need to create it with a purpose in mind. A lot of my work is just freehand or made out of anxiety, It’s usually later in life where I can connect it to a specific message or feeling I was having. Even though I think all art does have a meaning, I don’t think it has to be something insightful or existential. The meaning can be anything there are no rules when it comes to art, lot of my art was made because I was either depressed or horny. I think all art has an underlying purpose for why it was made but I don’t think you need to create it with a purpose in mind. A lot of my work is just freehand or made out of anxiety, It’s usually later in life where I can connect it to a specific message or feeling I was having. Even though I think all art does have a meaning, I don’t think it has to be something insightful or existential. The meaning can be anything there are no rules when it comes to art, lot of my art was made because I was either depressed or horny.

Any final comments? (This is your electronic soapbox for one last answer.)

I hope through all the tragedy this year you have been able to do any kind of self-reflecting. A lot of life is designed to be constantly going going going especially living in NYC where you’re constantly running to the next spot. I have been able to take a lot of time to think about my future, what I was taking for granted in the past, process ignored trauma, and to be more mindful and thankful for the people in my life. A lot of people like to throw around the term self-care and equate it to going out or partying which totally can be a part of it, but those things are also kind of a distraction from dealing with the real things that will help you heal emotionally. It’s really upsetting to see people still using super spreading events like raves or parties as an excuse for self-care’ when right now they cause so much toxicity in others’ lives. Are you really taking care of yourself if it’s potentially going to cause YOU or someone else and their families ultimate pain? Let’s not forget that Covid is very real, but also that racial discrimination and police corruption is also very real. I’d like to see the energy we all had in the summertime demanding real change as a COMMUNITY again, it feels like those who aren’t affected daily by these issues have forgotten and some of us don’t have that kind of luxury or privilege.

Two truths and a lie answer key:

Lie: There’s a hidden drawing of a penis in EVERY Beelzebaby drawing and when you find them all, YOU become the new supreme.

Truth: Despite drawing them on everything, I’m terrified of all bugs EVEN BUTTERFLIES. Their flight pattern is too unpredictable.

Truth: I don’t really believe in astrology (please don’t come for me) but my astrological chart says I’m a triple cancer which horrifies people but from what I’ve been told, adds up.

Yasmin Naomi Jones