The rainbow-obsessed photographer and mixed media artist from LA
Erika Mugglin is an LA based artist specialising in photography, performance and mixed media. She has a technicolour vision that lends itself to all kinds of rainbow themed editorials, iridescent cellophane, performance shots for the likes of Miley Cyrus and Sky Ferreira and the occasional three-eye feline too. We asked her some questions to get to know her better.
Hey, what kind of stuff have you been photographing recently?
Recently I have been photographing studio portraits for musicians to be used on their releases as promotional material. I also shot a fall lookbook for Adonai, and worked with a more muted palette for that particular job and went to Oregon and photographed some of the lush and gorgeous landscapes of the northeast.
What do you like about rainbows so much?
A rainbow is a perfect metaphor. It’s a collaboration between the sun and the rain, the silver-lining to a downpour, and it requires an observer to exist, much like art. It is light made chromatic. And without light, without the sun, life could not exist. For me, working with rainbows is paying reverence to light, and also to the extent of our entire visual spectrum. It has become an obsession, and I intend to see it through until I have expended the fascination with it.
What do you love doing?
I love collaborating with others, I love dancing without a care in the world, biking late at night when no one is on the road, hiking, seeing shows, making rainbows, making bad puns, making people feel special, cooking for others, glittering up myself and others, cuddling with my kitten, dressing up for any occasion, performing, and singing with the windows down,
What do you hate doing?
I hate doing repetitive and tedious tasks, anything monotonous is the bane of my existence. I also hate doing laundry, I put it off until the need is desperate.
Tell us the most recent picture you liked on Instagram and why?
The most recent photo I liked on Instagram was an image on the @taxcollection page of a ‘Deep Dreamed’ street. Deep Dream art work has definitely been one of the most fascinating and uniques aesthetics to arise in the last few years. When you look at the street it’s made of tiny rendered digital puppies, and slugs, and puppy-slugs as the computer is trying to make sense of what it’s seeing. It really completes the notion of microcosms within macrocosms.
