Conversations with Molly Wurwand

Today we’d like to introduce you to Molly Wurwand.

Hi Molly, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I’m born and raised in LA, grew up drawing all the time. My obsession as a kid was drawing paper dolls, and creating huge intricate dramas between all the characters. I never really grew out of that so now I just draw and paint lots of people that I make up in my head. I went to NYU and lived in New York for a few years after school, and moved back to LA right before the pandemic started. That’s when my full-time art practice really became possible. I also teach art to kindergarteners.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
To be totally candid, I have depression and anxiety, which luckily I am able to help manage by speaking to a therapist and taking daily medication. But that has made the road pretty rocky- it’s a struggle- especially to feel free and brave when I’m creating. I can be so harsh and down on myself and that ends up making me work too small or too limited, and I really want to encourage myself to be bigger, free-er and have more of a sense of experimentation and play. Also, a struggle has been the feeling of being so hooked to my phone and screens. I always feel more creative when I take a break to read physical book and magazines rather than being hypnotized by Wikipedia.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I would say my specialty is portraiture, with a surreal, sort of deranged lens. As a transgender non-binary artist, my work mirrors my soul- I focus a lot on performances of genders. I’m super fascinated by plastic surgery, pseudo-celebrity, and the hypnotic discomfort of being alive inside a body. I would say something that sets me apart is probably the weeks and months of research I do before I start creating a series of portraits. I’ll be researching what the packaging of BagelBites would have looked like in 2004 versus what it looked like in 1998. I definitely am planning on expanding into more conceptual art, really building out a visceral, touchable world. I have a show coming up in May at Junior High Gallery in Glendale, and it’s called “Milfs.” It’s going to feel, hopefully, like stepping into a version of growing up in West LA in the 90s.

Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
Oh wow- that everything is art. Everything counts, everything is legit. And to not compare and despair with other artists, their timelines, how old they were when they did what. Just compare myself to who I was yesterday, or as Cardi B says, “I’m my own competition, I’m competing with myself.”

Contact Info:

• Website: dreamlandforever.com

Image Credits
All work by Molly Wurwand