Heart StarUNO Magazine
Published on 11/10/2010

Awesome interview by Quark Henares from my trip to Manila!  Transcript below plus a cute 10 question video interview.  You can check out the full article with all the cool photos here.
And heres a fun 10 question interview for UNO Magazine.  
You can also check it out on YouTube

Heart Star: Myths, mutants and Manila madness with amazing artist Tara McPhersonNovember 8th, 2010
words by Quark Henares / photographs by EverywhereWeShoot

Tara McPherson is being fitted with a corset. Although she looks absolutely hot, she also looks absolutely uncomfortable. She’s been working for three days straight: giving talks, signing stuff, taking photos, giving outinterviews, jamming with local art greats, signing stuff. She looks like she’s about to faint when I ask her if she’s okay. Her face lights up and she nods, “I’m great!” She’s chipper and cheerful—both things that are not what you expect her to be but make perfect sense. It’s been a bit surreal hanging out with her and her boyfriend Sean for the past few days in Manila. McPherson’s a bit of a superstar, but not exactly someone like Rain or Rihanna who’d be worshiped in these parts. She’s an art star, and her work has graced hundreds of posters for bands like Death Cab for Cutie, Green Day, and Weezer. She has two art books out: Lonely Heart and Lost Constellations. She’s made a bunch of toys, most notably her Gamma Mutant Space Friends series for Kidrobot. She’s done work for Playstation, Pepsi, Fanta, and Nike. People get tattoos of her art without knowing who she is, or plaster their laptops with her aliens. If you don’t know her, chances are you already love and know her work anyway, which is just a testament to this Californian’s genius. This shoot and interview was held in Vinyl on Vinyl, owned by UNO’s obvious favorite Gaby dela Merced, who, along with make-up queen Pia Reyes, did the country a favor by bringing this graphic hero to Manila.

How has your stay in the Philippines been so far? Do you have a favorite part or favorite moment?

It’s been fantastic. Boracay was amazing—such a great, beautiful tropical experience. Manila’s cool too. It reminds me of Brazil in the way that there are nice, new buildings mixed in with these favela style houses. I haven’t actually been able to see much. Hopefully, I’ll get to see more. We’re going to Greenhills later.

How about the people? Did you expect such a rabid fanbase?

Noooo! No, man! It was freaky! It was such a beautiful experience. I didn’t know that people here would know my stuff. Some people would go, “Oh you have a lot of fans here” but, I mean, you never really can tell. The turnout was great. Part here, and at Graphika (Manila)… so many people were interested.

You had a long night signing last night. What time did you go home?

We were here ‘til 12:30, signing. It was really cool last night, though. The night before was really just so intense (Writer’s note: They ended at around 4 a.m.). Last night was cool. Everyone came up here, one at a time, and I got to spend five minutes with each person, signing. It was intimate. I felt like I got to know more of them instead of signing something and going: “Here you go.” I also got a lot of cool stuff. I got, like, a drawing from this little 7-year-oldgirl. She drew all my characters for me. Adorable. And then I got a cute little hat from Mich (Dulce). Little books, comicbooks, free gifts. Awesome! I even got a pussy last night. (Shows her pussy necklace)

A necklace?

Yeah it’s a cat. So now I’m wearing my pussy on my neck.

For the complete story, click this link.

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