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Sinister Forces are at Work in Akiya Kageichi’s Magical Worlds

Akiya Kageichi is a Japanese illustrator who calls himself Golden Gravel, a name which may refer to Japanese rock gardens. His sinister jesters, lazy rulers and clandestine warriors are set within scenes full of chaotic imagery. Astrological symbols, particularly moons, are heavily prominent, suggesting the mysterious forces of dark nights are at work. In a single plane, objects morph, creating dynamic and active scenes. Kageichi reveals hidden underworlds and secret futures, in which sorcery and witchcraft pull the strings and determine what happens in the real world.

Topics

Akiya Kageichi, astrology, illustration, Japanese

Andrea Wan, drawing, Exploding Heads, Fakelore, illustration

May 26, 2014

Born in Hong Kong, raised in Vancouver, educated in Denmark, and currently residing in Berlin – Andrea Wan is an artist with a diverse and culturally rich background to draw upon. Inspired by her relationships with the various people and places she has encountered throughout her journeys, Wan’s illustrations and ink paintings seek to communicate narratives that seem influenced by folktales and children’s stories. Indeed, the surrealistic and whimsical scenes that Wan creates could be illustrations straight out of a trippy children’s book, à la Dr. Seuss, Lewis Carroll or Shel Siverstein.

Carmel Seymour’s Imaginative Watercolors Play with Negative Space

Carmel Seymour, illustration, painting, Watercolor

August 29, 2014

There seems to be a history running through Carmel Seymour’s water colors, but it’s hard to pin down. Somewhere in the hazy but sublime gap between art and illustration, the paintings suspend an alternate reality in the canvas’ mid-air, depicting some hyperreal folklore in a wash of negative space. Seymour’s conceit seems simple enough: she places contemporary figures, such as girls in jeans and sneakers, in some private oasis, perhaps the figures’ dream landscape or perhaps some alien planet. But the landscapes where her figures exist are not so much 'scapes as objects; entities without a before or after. Her water colors are deployed in highly restrained and linear strokes to focus on details, and then exploded to disrupt the hyperrealism and maximize the medium’s atmospheric emphasis. The paintings have no clear beginning or end, but beg the question: what’s the story here?

Eric Petersen’s Vivid Digital Illustrations

digital art, Eric Peterson, illustration

August 25, 2014

Eric Petersen is a methodical, calculated artist. He opts to work digitally to remove any personalized evidence of the human touch. He chooses the colors of his works like a scientist dropping carefully-measured chemicals into a vile: The intended effect of these contrasting, bright shades, says Petersen, is one of unsettlement. He sets up compositions that are at once harmonious and jarring. Geometric shapes appear to slice through his planes with razor sharp precision of placement. Yet their rhythmic arrangements give his work a sense of harmony, even while the electric blue, neon yellow and sunset orange hues simultaneously vie for viewers' attention.

Alex Kuno’s “Orpheus and Eurydice” Illustrates a Tragic Love Story

Alex Kuno, Greek mythology, illustration

February 12, 2016

Minnesota based artist Alex Kuno best describes his work's narratives as apocalyptic, satiric fairytales. His mixed media illustrations are as dark as they are whimsical, following deranged subjects, often children, rendered in acrylics, graphite, chalk, ink, ballpoint pens and crayons on pine boards. His early series, after which he named his website, calls this world the "The Miscreants of Tiny Town", inhabited by lost orphans looking for a home in an endless, foreboding landscape that has as much personality as its characters. Though nightmarish, there's also a sense of romance in his young subjects' undying desire to eke out a better existence for themselves. A story about romance is at the heart of Kuno's latest series debuting on Valentine's Day at Dorothy Circus Gallery in Rome.

Sinister Forces are at Work in Akiya Kageichi’s Magical Worlds

Andrea Wan’s Imaginative Illustrations Provide Social Commentary

Carmel Seymour’s Imaginative Watercolors Play with Negative Space

Eric Petersen’s Vivid Digital Illustrations

Alex Kuno’s “Orpheus and Eurydice” Illustrates a Tragic Love Story

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