Influential Illustrators and Artists 1

Søren Behncke

Behncke repurposes cardboard and objects found on the streets, turning discarded pieces of pop culture into paintings, sculptures, and street performances.

He also paints on canvas, but I most enjoy these 3D, quirky, graphic, and animated creations. I particularly like the geometric appearance, as the illustration is on a flat surface, then protruded to create a 3D shape. I also enjoy his black and negative outlines, which remind me of the movie “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”, where the cartoons come to life. His designs play with space and scale, which build character into inanimate objects.

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Ed Cheverton

”I'm an illustrator and artist predominantly working with collage to make pictures, stories or collections about other worlds, nice characters and abstract spaces. Collage gives me an opportunity to be very playful with image making, bringing separate and contrasting elements together to form a new 'whole'. I like bringing forth joy in my work; the things I make are made with love and excitement. I like people to feel those things too when they look at the work.”

Cheverton, 2023, (https://www.asobi-store.co.uk/blogs/featured-artists/featured-artist-ed-cheverton)

He successfully plays with almost clashing shapes, sizes, and colours, mastering and balancing the elements to communicate joyful, happy, and descriptive images.

I particularly love his overlapping and textural appearance, choosing to expose the layering on his photos, rather than flatten them. He also manages to achieve depth, I think from his colour choices, which creates a narrative from a first-person perspective.

His work appears void of all control, as if relinquishing all technical skills. To me, they seem effortless, intuitive, and positively innocent. I’m hoping to take these into my own practice.

Personal Thoughts/Deeper Idea Exploration

This post is intended to be a stream of conscious and general list of words, to get my thoughts out and 'written' down so I can remember them, and try to improve my vocabulary, and think of any reference points that would be good for researching. I enjoy using phrases and juxtaposed wordplay to name and contextualise my works, and ideas. They create a narrative and tell a story that emphasises the idea of getting lost in the wilderness, and building a place for escape. This is currently what I'm thinking about when making my works, and when looking at research.

Abstraction, wiggly lines. Drawing qualities. Representation. Mark making. Sensory. Connecting, links, parallel.

Caves, crevices. Valleys, canyons. Streams, rivers, ponds, lakes.

Flow. Wind. Breeze. Land. Earth. Air. Fire. Water. Sea. Elements. Avatar. Storm. Clouds. Sky. Birds. Heaven. Dreams, ethereal, astral plane. Phantom. Ghostly. Glitch. Computer.

I asked Chat GPT to generate a list of descriptive phrases relating to nature and the landscape, to trigger ideas that I could visually explore, and relate to familiar memories, which would trigger an emotional response.

I asked-

"give me a list of descriptive phrases and places related to nature and the landscape."

Below is the AI's response.

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• Whispering Pines

• Majestic Mountains

• Serene Lake

• Golden Wheat Fields

• Verdant Forests

• Crimson Sunsets

• Rolling Hills

• Azure Waters

• Breathtaking Vistas

• Lush Meadows

• Crystal-clear Streams

• Towering Cliffs

• Blooming Wildflowers

• Winding Rivers

• Sparkling Waterfalls

• Silent Valleys

• Glistening Glaciers

• Sun-dappled Groves

• Wind-swept Dunes

• Rocky Outcrops

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These are some incredible descriptions that create vivid images in my mind. I'll be using and inspiration when creating further pieces!

Ceramic and 3D Artist Research

I haven’t yet looked into any ceramic artists, so I’ve found 2 that I’m using as reference points for my next pieces.

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Kiko Miyares

“My goal is to go beyond the conventional, merging aesthetics with utility and exploring how form can influence perception.”

Miyares, 2024, (https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2024/02/kiko-miyares-headlights/)

Miyares creates carved, wooden sculptures that explore expectations, perspective, and understanding. Using everyday images, objects, and people to change our perceptions, and question what we already know.

1. Road or ravines, 2024, carved and painted wood

2. Road or ravines, 2024, carved and painted wood

3. ULTRA 01, 2019, Polychrome wood, 210x20x35cm, Única

I am obsessed with Miyares literal play with time and space, particularly matter itself. See above, how he changed light into a solid. The neon-like colours accentuate the beaming headlights, as if they are reflectively blinding. I also enjoy how they can be displayed in different ways. For example, the centre photo looks like a series of cars falling from the sky, or hovering spotlights desperately searching for something lost.

Back roads, 2024, carved and painted wood

This piece directly relates to my works, which explores representation of the landscape. Miyares beautifully plays with perspective here, as the specific angle tails off in each direction, but the side pieces appear like the edge of a canyon. The car, protruding, slightly enlarged from the road behind to suggest movement. You can feel the car gliding along the valley road. It reminds me of my time in The Lake District in 2021, doing the exact thing.

At the same time the peace feels like a floating island as if falling pieces of a planet due to the sharp underbelly of the land. I hope to play with perspective as Miyares does in my own work.

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John Booth

An illustrator, textile designer, and ceramicist, Booth makes abstract ceramics including figure heads with painterly designs.

These pieces are actually a collaboration with UK death specialists Farewell, creating urns to bring positive conversation and the approach around death, to bring light into the subject, and focus on the celebration of life.

I love his exercise of colour and playful collage. The idea isn't to be polished and perfect, rather be expressive and suggestive. He recalls his inner-child to invoke happy and stimulating emotions. It’s also a beautiful way to remember someone, especially as urns and death is visually dark, and sometimes dull. Pouring colour and pattern into monumental objects leaves the lasting impressions as positive, to balance the overwhelming sadness.

I also enjoy his cut and paste process, as if ‘sticking’ flowers and protruding shapes onto the basic urn shape. It funnily suggests the idea of masking the sadness, as if covering it up, which is a welcome balance to again, counter the negative emotions.