In my favourite Spicy Paint Job piece, a demon girl balances a wineglass in her hand. “My art comes so easily when I’m absolutely horsed,” she is saying, an exact portrait of every Critic writer ever. You may already know Spicy’s work from Critic centrefolds past. This issue, we’ve got another Critic x Spicy-Paint-Job collab, this time for Local Produce.
Spicy’s signature style is vivid and animated. Her comic-like panels feature hot, stylish demons that partake in lifestyles uncannily similar to our own. Like any self-respecting third year, they prize their vanity, experiment with drugs, text hookups they know will only lead to disappointment, and indulge in a healthy amount of self-sabotage. The chaoticness of Spicy’s characters mirrors our real life impulses, ones that many of us follow through with. Her ideas often come from her friends’ stories and observing those around her. “They’re not all personal experiences. They’re feelings that I see. Basically, I feel like I draw feelings. Particularly the craziest ones.”
Spicy first encountered her demons, the artistic kind but possibly the literal kind too, when she was about sixteen. Art has always been part of Spicy’s life and at this time, she was in a comic strip phase. “Out of all the art that I’ve ever done, looking back now, that’s held the most meaning to me… It was at a phase where I wasn’t really honest with myself… I was trying to find my identity and be authentic through my art.” It was a few years later when Spicy re-summoned these demons as Spicy Paint Job. Like Hannah Montana, Spicy leads a double life. In her Miley life, she works in the health sector, having studied in Ōtepoti. Retaining her anonymity keeps the observer’s own experiences most central to their understanding of Spicy’s art. “Art is a reflection of the viewer, rather than the artist itself…I want to be referred to as a human. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“A lot of my art is about validation and seeking that,” says Spicy on using art to acknowledge our inner demons. “It doesn’t matter what context it is, because it can be any. I think my art is accepting the cringe.” In Spicy’s work, the demons represent the ego element of human consciousness. The other recurring character in Spicy’s work is a lil fox named Janice who is at once rational, kind and non-judgemental. “The fox is your self, or the honest self… That’s the voice of reason for me. That is when you’re your most authentic, by shedding those layers.” Though the self-destructive tendencies of the demons are all too real and relatable, Janice reminds us to be empathetic with ourselves as we navigate, and indulge, in our state of simply being.
Being a serial Critic centrefold contributor is of course one of the most prestigious honours in the art world, but Spicy does not plan to stop there. The dream is to host her own pop-up gallery, her art in physical form amongst many mirrors in a clear, open industrial space - with an ego-death twist. “The people that work there will be in suits, handing out paper bags [with holes cut in them]… Like ‘oh yeah, on a Wednesday, I put a paper bag over my head and walked around with a bunch of people with more paper bags and looked at art. I feel like that embodies taking yourself off that hierarchy that my art portrays.”
To experience Spicy’s art more immediately, she’s planted a sticker treasure hunt around North Dunedin. Check out Spicy’s stories for clues (@spicypaintjob).