Mx. Morgan Robles is a surrealist artist and illustrator best known for his depictions of animals and nature with macabre themes. Mercurycover artist of the week. Their personal work often focuses on their own journey with mental health and gender identity; the cycle of life, death and decay; and environmental concerns. In our interview, we discuss witchcraft, horror movies, and the power of not giving a damn.

MERCURY: Do you remember your first attraction to dark, mystical and occult visuals?

ROBLES: I first became interested in the idea of ​​death around the age of four or five, and asked my aunt “What happens when you die?” She gave a very honest answer: you die, you go to earth, that kind of thing, and it stuck with me. I would draw pictures of people sitting on sofas or “asleep” pets on the floor. Just a kid conceptualizing the transition from life to death. My parents didn’t like it! Witchcraft walks quietly among my family so it was natural to explore, but I didn’t want to go too far. I immersed myself primarily in Viking rune magick and incorporated some of my divinations into my work.

What are your favorite movies/comics/books in this genre?

I’m a huge horror fan. Rosemary’s baby, the omen, Hereditaryand The witch are all personal favorites. I’m a sucker for supernatural or Christian horror. Slashers, not so much. I have a weakness for The Texas Chainsaw Massacreyet. [Andrzej] by Żuławski Possession is another classic. I could go on! As far as comics go, I grew up with Roman Dirge Lenoreby Jhonen Vasquez Johnny the murderous maniac, and later discovers the work of Junji Ito. And I have to mention the impact of 1980s fantasies like The dark crystal, The black cauldron, The NIMH Secret immersing myself in mystical things and the desire to create art at a young age.

Can you tell me how your gender identity journey has influenced or affected your artistic journey?

It changed my job a lot, I think. I feel like a lot of the stuff I drew before I questioned my gender felt empty to me. I was drawing a lot of gory stuff, occult symbols, just things to get attention or important things that I found through divination. It was largely an outlet for aggression, but I didn’t know how to articulate where that frustration was directed. It ended up being a lot of things, but over time I started to think of myself more as a cosmic being, just something more than a wandering meat sack in life organized to be attractive or desirable to the others – real Carl Sagan doing star-thinking type stuff. As long as I am in this body, I will make it beautiful and feel good inside. I started opening doors that I couldn’t close, so to speak. I’m really a late hatcher who comes out as non-binary and later realizes I’m also a lesbian, when a lot of young gay people have the language to describe themselves and continue to develop it (honestly, good for them!).

It was a healing process for me too. The things I drew were subconsciously how I view myself, how I want to see my ideal self, overcoming so many bad relationships and emotional abuse, or sometimes a metaphorical murder of societal and religious pressures of gender roles and other such beasts. The biggest influence and the most valuable lesson was to stop caring. The art scene has really helped to flourish; I really found my weird queer goth artist family.

Did you have formal art training or are you self-taught?

I am mostly self-taught. I took a few art classes at East Los Angeles Community College, but life changed and I gave up. I just kept doing what I was doing and teaching myself. You can get all the necessary art skills for free through YouTube.

You recently signed a book cover for a children’s novel which will be released next year, can you tell me more about this project?

Yeah! It’s titled Venom and wish by Anna-Marie McLemore and Elliott McLemore. It’s a novel for young adults featuring transgender and disabled protagonists whose double lives as assassins tasked with killing each other bring them into an unwitting conflict. It’s also very Mexican and Irish folk focused, and I was born into both cultures, so it was a great match! I’ve read a few excerpts and can’t wait to read the rest. I wish I had books like this when I was a kid!

Can you tell me about the piece we are highlighting on the Mercurythis week’s homepage?

I created We’ll meet again in May 2021 and it received so many positive engagements. Why is still a mystery to me, but I think I just did it at the right time during the pandemic. It’s basically walking among those you’ve lost and never really left; they are always with us. I framed it with marigolds because the petals cross the veil between life and death.

Are there other areas of everyday life that inspire your work?

I was very much inspired by poster art and the art nouveau revival of the poster art scene. I was collecting poster clips of Frank Kozik, Tara McPherson and Rockin’ Jelly Bean and just wanted to do what they do. Every time I get a request to do an album cover I get excited, the symbiosis of art and music is such a joy and I’m always looking for more work with musicians.

Well, I hope some musicians will read this interview and hire you!

Crossed fingers!