Issue 35 of 3×3, the Magazine of Contemporary Illustration is out and I had the pleasure of interviewing and writing a profile of South Korean illustrator Oyow. Here is an excerpt:

“Some of the aesthetic weirdness comes from the work’s inchoate forms, as if Oyow is trying to conjure a dim memory that stubbornly refuses to come into sharp focus. Details are invariably lacking, especially facial details; bodies are reduced to sinuous noodles with budding appendages added only as needed. The cover of the book ‘Introverted Common Thoughts,’ which features an illustration from his ongoing series ‘The Gardeners,’ typifies Oyow’s approach. Hedges fill the landscape like massive stone Olmec heads, the features of their carved faces worn down by time and weather—or perhaps by pruning shears. The lone figure buries its face into one of the heads as if looking for something misplaced, creating a playful but simultaneously unnerving effect.

Notably, Oyow eschews using outlines to define—or contain—his forms. Like the Victorian Beggarstaffs’ most compelling posters, Oyow’s shapes tend to melt into each other, abstracting figures that often suggest far more than they depict. This quality can also make deciphering the images a little tricky, especially as there are few cues that create the illusion of depth.”

Read the entire profile (as well as prior articles) under Design is Play Articles. [MF]

Image courtesy of Oyow.

My profile of illustrator Richard Borge is currently featured in Issue 34 of 3×3, the Magazine of Contemporary Illustration. Here is one of the article’s paragraphs:

“In recent years Richard’s predilection for merging man (or animal) and machine has taken more playful forms, such as Japanese battery-powered tin robots, Rube Goldberg-like contraptions, and vintage windup toys. A spot illustration about 401K savings accounts for The Wall Street Journal is classic Borge. A windup wooden squirrel on wheels clutches a C-note acorn and tows a cart filled with more acorns. The squirrel’s imperfect paint job—line work is oddly varied, as if applied by an assembly-line worker late for lunch—together with its age-worn appearance lend the toy an aura of warmth and affability. Who knew that an illustration about retirement savings could be so fetching?”

Read the entire profile (as well as prior articles) under Design is Play Articles. [MF]

Image courtesy of Richard Borge.

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing and writing the ICON profile of children’s book author and illustrator Giselle Potter for Issue 33 of 3×3, the Magazine of Contemporary Illustration. Read my opener below:

“Although Giselle Potter is dubious of comparisons to folk art or of the adjective naïve to describe her work, her illustrations nevertheless defy spatial representation as we know it—or at least as it has come to be known since the Italian Renaissance. There are no vanishing points: tabletops float at odd angles in relation to the floor like flotsam and jetsam; the seat of an armchair may mysteriously shrink to fit into a corner of the room; and the ground itself may rise up and loom behind a figure like an ocean wave poised to crash. The result is an often mysterious rendering of space that yields a mildly disorienting (but charming) flatness. ‘I have heard the word flat used to describe my pictures but I don’t see them as flat,’ admits Giselle. ‘Sometimes I wonder: Do we just all see things differently?’”

Read the entire profile (as well as prior articles) under Design is Play Articles. [MF]

Image courtesy of Giselle Potter.