Throughout April
we are focusing on our new and exciting range of artists.
Alongside photography and fine art prints, ONGallery represent global artists who have gained notoriety in the visual world of contemporary illustration art and graphic representation.
The aim of an illustration is to provide a visualization of an imagined subject made = digitally by an artist.
Our artist of the week, Jonny Wan has a bright and bold digital style that reflects the current vector and colour trend in graphic illustration. He has been featured commercially with internationally renowned brands such as Nike, The OSCARS, Wall Street Journal, Nokia and Microsoft to name a few.
Brian Grimwood made his mark as ‘The Man Who Changed the Face of British Illustration’ back in the 1960’s. His style developed into something that contrasted to the previously reserved and restrained; often clean illustration by early British practitioners. His contribution to advertising is highly recognisable within The London Underground and Johnny Walker Whiskey label.
Grimwood became one of the first established illustrators to utilise the digital era and has enhanced his practice with an iPad using software tools to create high energy, vivid portraits that reflect the expressive forms of Matisse and Picasso.
Bristol based young artist Anna Higgie, has created an immaculate flair for combining aesthetic realism with intricate pencil marks creating abstract collages and her style echoes the developing 80’s geometric trend in digital design. Higgie’s portfolio boasts clients such as Penguin Books, The Guardian and Bloomingdales as well as a versatile range of imagery that asserts draughtsmanship amongst her high fashion and editorial work.
Another highly regarded ONGallery artist, Simon Spilsbury has a distinctive style that also evokes recognisable imagery such as Picasso’s ‘Guernica’, Mickey Mouse and sketchy urban landscapes that have been described as “spontaneous, energetic, quirky, inherently humorous, adaptable and elegant.”
With a background in advertising, helping him with the art of quick idea generation, Spilsbury’s style is fluent in all media requirements whether national press, glossy magazine features or multi-media campaigns. Spilsbury’s envious client list includes Nike, Virgin, DHL, Waterstones, The Sunday Times, and The Guardian, winning numerous awards.
Lastly, the highly celebrated illustrator Mike Wilks has two global bestsellers The Ultimate Noah’s Ark and The Ultimate Alphabet, which was a New York Times bestseller and Sunday Times bestseller for 57 weeks with over 750,000 copies sold worldwide. After setting up and running his own successful design consultancy he devoted his time to painting and writing. He uses imaginative, otherworldly and deeply surreal imagery that tests the power of observation. His work is rich in detail and complex description with undertones that reflect Heironymous Bosch, MC Esher and biblical references as subject matter.
These are just a few of the incredibly talented artists that we will be representing this month, others include; Lorna Freytag, Bronwynn Kidd, Alberto Seveso and Lesley Buckingham.
2016 will see the Biennale of Illustration and Graphic Art in Berlin as well as the Young Illustrator Awards which dedicates recognition and appraisal to these artists working in the medium. These days there is an expanse in draughtsmanship and technical skill, from Starbuck’s coffee cups to the booths at Frieze Fair. Illustration and graphic design have become deeply engrained within the everyday imagery that surrounds our world in branding and advertising. Illustration has become one of the most dynamic, creative forms in today’s visual culture whilst also managing to cross into the boundaries of fine art.
All prints with ONGallery are for sale either framed or unframed and at affordable prices.