15 Questions with... Danny Sangra

This series aims to showcase the varying approaches creatives take to making art and how their relationships to the so-called art world differ, but also reveal what unifies those responsible for the art we love.‍

Danny Sangra is an English artist who works across multiple mediums including drawing, painting, photography and filmmaking. As an artist, he’s worked with The Beatles, Hermès, Sony, Burberry and Nike among many others. As a filmmaker, he’s produced work for Mercedes-Benz, Vogue, Balenciaga and more, and he had his first Hollywood premiere with Goldbricks in Bloom in 2016. He also makes short films, many of which seem to form parts of a mysterious larger, interconnected story.

This month, Sangra collaborated with luxury London boutique KOIBIRD on a project which began as a collection of illustrated T-shirts that use slogans related to online archetypes, and later expanded to include animated films and sculptures. The t-shirts boast Sangra’s signature playful designs, each poking fun at a different persona one might come across on the internet. 

1. What is your earliest memory of a work of art?

When I was 8, I drew a green apple with sunglasses and roller skates. I told my mum I thought it could be the logo for Sainsbury’s. She took me to the supermarket and made me tell the manager. They pinned it to the office notice board and told me I could pick anything from the sweets aisle. I chose a Sainsbury’s version of a Nestle Crunch.

2. Where do you turn to when you're in need of inspiration?

Music or photography. One photo can give me a story, characters and a composition style. Music can switch my mood from focusing on details to not giving a fuck.

3. Who is your favourite artist?

My kid. Nothing has ever given me as much joy as seeing my kid make something.

4. What's the biggest crime an artist can commit?

Stamping out copies from a mould you stopped believing in years ago.

5. Which gallery or museum should everyone try to visit at least once in their life?

Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

6. What is the worst thing about the art world?

Billionaires turning human expression into an asset for tax shelters.

7. Whose opinions on art do you actually care about?

Nobody. It’s not an ego thing, it’s just all so subjective. I could never take anyone seriously enough to really care about their opinion.

8. What trend in art makes you roll your eyes?

The wave of creative directors who’ve suddenly started using AI and now call themselves artists.

9. Who are the last three musical artists you listened to?

Czarface, Lilys, and a Japanese band called Happy End.

10. What's your favourite colour and why?

I usually say yellow because it’s got that ‘look at me’ vibe about it.

11. What three items would you grab if your house was burning down?

I have two plastic figurines I’ve had since I was 5. At one point they were the only things I had to play with. Then maybe my hard drive of videos and photos of family and friends.

12. Is there an artistic skill you wish you were better at?

I am no good at music. I’ve never really tried. Maybe that? But to be honest, I don’t actually wish I was good at it. I enjoy it too much to want to do it. Maybe it’s more of the artistic skills which are blended with science and craft, like cooking.

13. What can you tell us about your collaboration with Koibird?

It was great to be given the freedom to run with an idea rather than stop at the T-shirts. The illustrations became films, animations and sculptures, so the whole thing grew into its own little world. I enjoy working that way, where one idea leads to another, and you see where it takes you.

14. Which of the t-shirt designs took the longest to perfect, and why?

It’s hard to say, because what works for me personally doesn’t always translate to what works for everyone else. Finding that balance can take time, but I don’t remember any design being too difficult.

15. What message do you hope people take from this collaboration?

The only person I was really trying to get a message across to was my kid. He’s seen us make things out of scraps of card and black lines, played with them as toys, then watched them turn into animations, sculptures and T-shirts. He’s also seen a load of people come together because of them. That’ll do for me.