Some of my favorite artists, pt. 1

The greatest thing about living in the twenty-first century is definitely the internet. Like. Undoubtedly. It was through the internet and, more specifically, Instagram that I became familiar with many of my favorite artists. Better yet, most of these artists are still alive! It's easy to talk about the "masters," the canonical greats everyone already knows. But it's another thing to be able to support an artist during their lifetime, to meet them in person, and to maybe even befriend them.

Growing up, I was surrounded by art. My mother's home was filled paintings and prints, ceramics and sculptures, and a whole lot of decorative furniture. Just as I inherited the collector's bug from her, so too did she inherit it from her father. My late grandfather ("Papa," as I called him) was both an art collector as well as an artist by profession. We frequently visited his home and there I came to appreciate art even more. Indeed, in more than a few senses it's a bit surprising that it took me as long as I did to start collecting art qua art (though, to be fair, I had been collecting books and Pokémon cards since I was in Kindergarten).

Anyways, I'll probably make this somewhat of a series as I have literally dozens of favorite artists, and I'll wax poetic about my start into collecting in a different post. To start this series off, however, here's a list of eight of my favorite artists (in alphabetical order).

[UPDATE March 8, 2023: added pictures/links to view art]

Audrey Kawasaki

Audrey Kawasaki was among one of the first artists I started to actively follow. She's among the best known of what I might call the "West Coast Lowbrow Pop Surrealist" movement and closely associated with the print company Static Medium. I was fortunate enough to meet her in person at MondoCon in Austin back in 2015. I waited at Static Medium's booth for probably close to two hours for her to arrive, and was rewarded with her laughing in delight when I produced a (printed) selfie I had taken with a mural she had painted for the first Vitality & Verve show in Long Beach earlier that summer. She happily autographed it, as well as drew me a small sketch on the back of one of her showcards unprompted. To date, that small sketch is among my favorite pieces I own.

Handiedan

Handiedan is a Dutch artist known for her intricate and multi-layered collages and large-scale murals. Her work frequently merges "Eastern" and "Western" motifs, using, for instance, 50s pin-up girls and the posturing of South Asian deities. Her recent work has started implementing augmented reality, embracing the cultural clout of the Instagram post and the materiality of the cell phone as now inherent to the gallery-viewing experience.

James Jean

I was introduced to Jean's work by way of @itsbirdy of the Pokemon onesie and KMR fame. birdy had posted a photo on his Instagram about purchasing a print of Jean's "The Seasons." While I didn't purchase that particular print (one of my biggest regrets as that piece is now entirely out of my price range), amongst all the artists listed here, I own the most amount of works from Jean. He has collaborated with the likes of DC Comics, Disney, and Prada, and is currently represented by Kaikai Kiki, Takashi Murakami's personal gallery.

Ozabu

Ozabu's work is... exquisite. It's hard to put into words what exactly I mean by that, but there's a level of precision and control in the Japanese artist's works that I find utterly mesmerizing. That it's all done with pencil adds to its gripping allure. Still hoping to come by a piece of hers at some point in the near future... sigh.

Sandra Chevrier

Chevrier's style is instantly recognizable. Her oeuvre focuses on portraits of women, often with fierce gazes (and often the eyes are the only part of the face visible), that are adorned with masks constructed of pages from DC and Marvel comics. At first I thought she was a collage artist, but she actually hand paints each comic frame. Chevrier recently collaborated with Shepard Fairey (AKA Obey Giant) to complete an enormous mural in downtown Austin.

Takashi Murakami

There's a lot I could say about Murakami. He's the founder of the "superflat" movement, which brought anime to the world of "high art" and tethered it to Japan's history. He's collaborated with musicians such as Kanye, Billie Eilish, and J Balvin. And he represents and endorses a number of artists, both young and old(er) with his main gallery, Kaikai Kiki, as well as some smaller and specialty ones (such as the Tonari no Murata gallery which will focus on Japanese ceramics and crafts when it open in the near future). Though he's probably best known for his smiling flowers (apparently there's an irreverent story behind them) and Mr. DOB, he's created a number of ambitious and breathtaking works over the years (consider his arhats, his Chinese fish, or his recently completed paneled Fuji).

Tiffany Le

I first met Le at A-Kon's artist alley in 2017. I was instantly enamored with her work and quickly asked if I could commision something from her. As one of her projects is the ongoing feminist Tragic Waters zine set (eagerly waiting for volume three!), I asked if she'd take on my favorite video game cinematic: Yuna's sending from Final Fantasy X. And WOW did she deliver (see below). So much so, actually, that I actually ended up commissioning a companion piece for it just the next year, this time focusing on Luna from Final Fantasy XV (one of Tiffany's favorite games which she's done tons of other artwork for as well!) Speaking of Final Fantasy...

Yoshitaka Amano

The last artist I'll mention here is best known for his work on the Final Fantasy series, for which he worked as a concept artist and character designer. You know all those ethereal images that compliment the block FINAL FANTASY [insert Roman numeral here] for each game's logo? Yeah, that's his work. Lately he's been making larger strides in the "high art" world, having solo shows in Japan and China, and collaborating with Vogue Italy for their first ever completely illustrated issue.