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Jamiyla Lowe’s Elaborate Drawings of Bizarre Creatures

Canadian artist Jamiyla Lowe has conjured a topsy turvy world of bizarre creatures. Her ink illustrations recall Dr. Seuss characters with attitude, using a handful of bright colors like yellow, red and green, or monochromatic black and white. They are rounded and somewhat droopy, even when representing real animals, and almost always with a white background. Most of the images here are from her new series, "Beware of the Beast" for Narwhal Art Projects in Toronto.

Canadian artist Jamiyla Lowe has conjured a topsy turvy world of bizarre creatures. Her ink illustrations recall Dr. Seuss characters with attitude, using a handful of bright colors like yellow, red and green, or monochromatic black and white. They are rounded and somewhat droopy, even when representing real animals, and almost always with a white background. Most of the images here are from her new series, “Beware of the Beast” for Narwhal Art Projects in Toronto. Despite their freaky looks, these ‘beasts’ have a Looney Tunes-style slapstick humor. They shoot their comrades out of cannons, walk on tightropes, or simply act strangely; for instance, she’s drawn a 6-eyed dog using his tongue for a staircase. It’s this contrast between scary and silly that makes Lowe’s art both interesting and fun to look at.

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