Andhika Muksin is an Indonesian graphic designer who likes to play with Photoshop in his spare time. He likes to mash different photos into a whole new image. The victims? His friends, celebrities and Disney characters.
Adhika posts his creation on Instagram and Facebook. Hes been doing it for six or seven years, but lately, his artworks went viral and he became a worldwide topic.
Thanks to his series of Disney/real life mash-ups, Andhika started to get international recognition from big media such as Buzzfeed, Mashable, French Biba Magazine and Entertainment Weekly.
We met him to talk about this newfound fame and his love for Disney.
So, how does it feel to be on the spotlight?
Honestly its something I have yet to comprehend fully. I have been doing that, posting my work on Instagram, for six or seven years and Ive had exhibitions before, but none of those gave an effect as big as what Im experiencing right now. The Disney ones are actually just for fun, thats just something I do to relax from work. Apparently, people are into it.
It started with Disney communities on Instagram that regrammed my pictures and it gave me constant increase in following, but after Buzzfeed wrote about me, it gets wild.
Its been surreal. I just woke up one day and I got a lot of emails from here and there. But Im ecstatic. I was expecting haters, but most of them have been positive.
Wait, you have haters?
There are several hateful comments, but theres always two sides of everything.
Tell us more about you and Disney.
I grew up with Disney movies, because back then we didnt have a lot of that. Now we have Sony , Dreamworks and a lot of options. Regardless of that, Im a huge fan of Disney.
As I grew up, I developed myself artistically, from painting to graphic designing, and I alway love to put some pop culture elements into my works. Then, I started to revert back to Disney, by giving some twist to classic Disney stories. As I got older, I got more adult point of view on those stories. I just put them into Photoshop and made those pictures.
When youre not playing with Disney and Photoshop, what do you do on a daily basis?
Im a graphic designer working 9 to 5. Now Im the process of entering a new office, so now I kind of just stay at home.
My work is the usual but I do a lot of digital imaging for social media content, because my base is illustration so my graphic designs are mostly illustrations, not just layout, but creating images.
Do you consider yourself as an artist?
Its tricky to say, because what I do now (with Disney characters) is considered collage art, but Im reluctant to go into that argument (that Im an artist) because this is what I do just for fun. Essentially, its still art because its creating a new content out of existing images thats why we call it collage art but I wouldnt use the artist title for this.
Whats next for you after this? Will the fame become a stepping stone in your career?
Im not sure because what I do for career is different to what I do for fun. If I do use this as a stepping stone, it wouldnt connect to what Ive been doing professionally. But I dont know where this will lead us. Im open to anything. After all, Ive never expected big media to take notice on me in the first place anyway.
(brl/red)
