To be able to see the humorous side of serious topics can often be a hard thing for the less open minded to master. Thankfully, we here in Australia do seem to be able to walk that line with some proficiency, what with our apparent built in, allegedly culturally enabled “take the piss” attitude.

For an artist to walk that line, however, and to still have their work maintain a light hearted disposition whilst evoking deeper, serious thoughts about important subjects, is a whole other matter entirely – yet with her explorations in both fine art and culture jamming street art, Rena Littleton has managed to do just that.

With adept skill, she moves between these worlds in a constant curiosity laden sojourn, “kicking the tires” on social mores, foibles and fallacies. From gorgeous illustrative styled images of overdose victims, M&Ms in hand, to information pamphlets laden with poignancy over the ridiculousness over that which isn’t always said, her work has that grand capacity to simultaneously evoke both happiness and sorrow at our modern ages many transgressions.

We’re fans of Renas works on many levels – which is as it should be, and we were completely curious to find out exactly how much that simple word, fun, means to an artist whose work is able to communicate with such polyglottal abandon …

We love the first quote on your website – “My grandfather once told my dad that “life is serious”.  I’m glad I never met him, because I couldn’t take life much less serious.The world is just one big playground waiting for us to art in it.” – tell us a bit about your own artistic playground and the levity surrounding your artistic journey – how much fun have you had with it all over the years?

Having fun is definitely the most important thing in life to me. I’ve always enjoyed pointing out the absurdity of the world we live in. I think people often create their own self-restrictions based on how they think others will judge them. Once you take that element away, however, the possibilities are endless. The other restriction placed upon us is that of the law, which can sometimes be a fun thing to try to get around.

Though, I do wonder if I will be sued one day – considering the direction I’m going in with my art and culture jamming. 

Painting, drawing, comics, animation, culture jamming … such a diverse and wide range of activities warrants a pretty curious mind – how does curiosity play into the work that you do, or, in fact, do you believe that good art is even possible without a healthy sense of curiosity? Obviously, that and a really good dose of humour must play a pretty vital part in your work…

Curiosity and a sense of humour definitely play a big part in my art. These elements are important to me because it’s what I personally find most satisfying and rewarding. I find it essential to let my mind wonder away from what’s considered ‘normal’ by society’s conventions and constantly ask the question “why” and sometimes even “why not”. Question everything!

Your two solo shows thus far, amongst a huge range of group shows, “Ten Day Bender” and “Red, White, Black” were almost six years apart – what made the gap between the two shows so long, and what was it that you felt differed between both of the shows themselves from when you held your first one, to the most recent a year ago?

My first solo show was at a very early stage of my career, when I had only just moved to Melbourne from country Victoria. At that point, having only experienced life in small country towns throughout Victoria and Greece, I still wasn’t very aware of the art scene in Melbourne, or the possibilities it held for me.

It took a few years of exploration, self-growth and experimentation to find what direction I wanted to head in – though that is still evolving and probably always will (I get bored easily).

Ten Day Bender was fantastic – you had varying themes around morbidity and socially degraded characters, and yet these illustrations and images still feel “normal” – which is a complete counterpoint to the pills, blood, girls biting heads off dolls and worms emerging from stomachs … how did you approach this balance between the beautiful and the banal in the work for the show?

Thanks, I was really happy with that series, because I think it really captures what I’m all about. I’ve always had an obsession for the gross and disturbing, but I didn’t want my art to be too foul to look at, and I also wanted to have that element of humour that has become somewhat of a trademark in my artwork. By swapping real guns with spud guns, and pills with m&ms, the work is less confrontational and more humourous and open to interpretation.

Having a browse through your tumblr, “The Truth About Drugs” – we love all the posters and information pamphlets that you’ve been drawing up over the past few months, its quite a different thing to your more traditional illustration work – the themes jump through all aspects of social mores. Tell us a bit more about “The Truth About Drugs” and where the ideas sprung from – and where you want to take it to!

This project was born when a friend of mine showed me a website that claimed to have information on the truth about drugs, but actually read more like brainwashing material. I became obsessed with how government and authority are constantly trying to brainwash us with their own version of “the truth”, and people just accept it as fact. Which is so sad, considering the devastating effects that its had throughout our history, and is still happening today.

I’m not exactly sure where I want to take this project – but I do want to take it beyond the usual 2D art realm and into the real world in the form of real life happenings and culture jamming. For me, the most important thing is to encourage people to question authority more.

We’ve been seeing quite a few images from your other culture jamming project, “Street Status” lately – its hilarious, how did you think up this idea, what has it involved, and what has been so of the feedback and interesting stories surrounding it?

This project is a bit of fun, but it also raises a lot of interesting questions about society and how we interact. When I first came up with the idea, I wanted something that enabled me to interact with my surrounding community, rather than something that just says “I’m a piece of street art – enjoy me”. I like the idea of creating an opportunity for interaction and play, because essentially, people do want that opportunity.

The project has also changed how I look at my environment and its possibilities – the city feels like a school playground to me now, and I just want to play with all my friends (and I think they want to play too). I’ve only just started with this project, but people seem to be enjoying it and it is exciting to go back and check for comments that strangers have left.

You also recently did some work for the Board exhibition at NGV, and you are doing some live art workshop stuff for it as well – tell us a bit more about what you’ve done, what you think of the whole skateboard culture, and what the workshops will involve?

Yes, it’s a bit exciting to be a part of a show like this, with so many other talented artists. The skateboard art that I painted up for the show was a version of one of my Truth About Drugs pieces on Rock ‘n’ Roll – an outrageously crazy time when black and white people started mixing and even dancing together.

Ha, I’m not really sure what I think about the whole skateboard culture, I don’t really think about it that much. I used to love rolling down hills on my skateboard when I was 7, but if I can’t learn something in a few days then I’m most likely to give up – so no skateboarding or ollies for me.

During the NGV workshop with fellow artist, Kirpy, I’ll be painting a piece on segregation and racism. Visitors are free to come watch us, steal our techniques and ask us any questions they might have. I’ve never painted in public before, so this should be an interesting experience. They’ll be long days, so I’m hoping that people bring me snacks.

Talking comics – Rena vs World and Moonsville – are they ever evolving epics? Tell us about your affinity for comics, what motivates them, and what you think they add to the over all ideas and messages that you’re throwing out into the world?

I have many different outlets for my creativity, and comics is one of them. I find it an exciting medium because of the combination of imagery, text and story telling. Though I’m very specific about the type of comics that I enjoy – I’m more into dealing with real life issues than the superhero scene. Guys like Daniel Clowes and Chris Ware offer something that’s so humorous yet mundane, poignant and so real at the same time, and this is what I aspire to.

Rena Vs World allows me to show a more personal side of myself through real life characters and actual experiences. Sometimes embarrassing or messed up things happen, but the important thing is to be able to laugh at it, and this comic lets me do that. Moonsville on the other hand is a fairly new project, which I have been distracted from with other projects, but is an outlet for my fictional characters and stories.

You’ve spent a bit of time overseas, and we’ve seen that you also exhibit over there every so often – what is it that you think travelling brings to your art, and tell us a bit more about the aspect of exhibiting in shows overseas – are you planning more of it? Travel as well as exhibiting?

For me, travelling made me realise the plethora of possibilities out there and the fact that they’re not as inaccessible as I may have thought. We are so lucky to be living in an age where most things are accessible via the internet, so I feel travelling is less of a big deal than it used to be, but still a great experience nonetheless.

I did get pretty sick of all the airports, taxis, trams buses etc over the seven months of travelling, so for now I’m pretty happy staying put in Melbourne and concentrating fully on my art.

Seriously, over all you seem to have a million different ideas and things that you want to do, and you just nail so many of them – tell us a few of your ideas for creative endeavours that you have planned for 2012!?

Well I want to keep spreading my wings and trying new things. I’m going to try my hand at some slam poetry and also some form of performance at the Little Festival that my friend Rhys Rodgers is organising in cubbys under hills hoists though the inner northern suburbs. I also want to get more into street art, video art and happenings.

I’ve just launched my new website nonfairtrade.com which is a mixture of art, culture jamming, activism, video and humour. The plan is to start campaigning for companies, cafes etc to feature the ‘NONFAIRTRADE’ logo on all products that are made unethically. The dream is to get it passed as a law – a big aim I know – but it’s always best to aim too high than too low …

Check out Rena’s website, as well as nonfairtrade.com, and get down to see her and Kirpy at Board over this weekend at the NGV.