We were as surprised as anyone else when we discovered the work of IS TROPICAL‘s Simon Milner as a painter on Purple Diary. His place is full with soulful paintings standing alongside keyboard, “24h Party People” rub shoulders with “Painting People”. A complementary dualism which seems to express a bigger appetite for Art as a whole. We jumped on the occasion to ask him a few question about his work. Enjoy!

We heard you could paint and we saw your pieces were pretty amazing. When did it all begin ?
That’s all I wanted to do as a kid. Even when I first moved to London we set up an art gallery in our old Georgian squat. In the 5 story building, 4 floors were for the art and in the top floor we all shared as a living space.

Do you feel like you’re unvealing a more personal side in your paintings ?
I tend to paint a lot of my friends and lovers, more to try and capture their personality and not mine. Other collections have been dead animals or celebrities which I guess shows my interest in death and fame.

Is this form of art in line with the music you create within Is Tropical ?
We do all the artwork for Is Tropical, well mainly Gary, but this has a different feel. We thought about making original art for the last album but this proved to be a hard task. I believe my paintings work as collections. It takes a few pieces to translate the work, you also have to see the textures and application.

What inspires you the most ?
I have ideas in my mind how to recreate what I see, it inspires me to make it visual for others. Other artists also, Marlene Dumas, Luc Tuymans, Raymond Pettibon, Gary Hume excite me.

Thanks to Purple Magazine, we peaked into your studio and saw you were into sculpting as well ?
I always try a bit of sculpture but fail, so have never shown any outside my studio.

Are these only on display at your place or do you plan on showing them to the world ? An exhibition any time soon ? 
I have just shown 2 piece, Amy Winehouse and Heath Ledger in body bags called ‘Cavader Pouch’, in a show in Hackney, London. And in the next few weeks have 4 painting, of couples kissing, being installed in Norway.

If you could meet one artist (dead or alive), who would it be?
It would have been Marlene Dumas but I had the pleasure last summer when she did a talk at the Hayward. Raymond Pettibon seems like a dude, he made funny art videos with people like Sonic Youth, covering topics like Patty Hearst.

You granted Gildas with one of your pieces. What’s the story behind it ?
I started painting family portraits and said I would do one for him for Christmas. It was quite hard working from a Skype image haha

Are Gary and Dominic also hiding other incredible skills ?!Gary was very successfully artist, working mostly with Christopher Green in their collective ‘C’est Moi Ce Soir’. They also lived in the art squat. They did commitions for Summerset House and had shows in Japan and Canada.
http://www.spaceplatform.net/10roomsshow.html
Dom has dabbled but he’s more passionate about words.