ABOUT
I wear many hats. I've always worn many hats and I'm comfortable working that way. The world is a big place and there's lots of things that peak my interest. As an illustrator, you're trained to notice everything around you because you have to be able to draw it and see the details that characterize what it is you are looking at. That fundamental rule has always stayed with me. From that one idea, I've been on a road of constant discovery.
Everything that is man-made has been designed by someone. Everything can be made beautiful to look at, three dimensional objects, two dimensional print pieces or the typography that runs across the head. As a designer, I am attracted to these things and am constantly in search of that perfect esthetic. If I can't find it, I'll make it. There is no reason why advertising can't be beautiful. Typography is art. White space gives an ad life... white space gives everything life.
Here's an ad with no copy, but your eye goes to her eyes, the bag and then the logo. That's the entire message. Here's a double page spread magazine ad with copy and powerful photography. The message is immediate. It's balanced, simple and clean. This is an ad for blue jeans using photo manipulation. No copy, just an image and a logo. These are the sort of things that stay with people because we are visual.
Typography can be stunning as well. Beautiful typography has always been a driving force in designers. We are drawn to it and driven to create it. Here's an example of beautiful black and white typography. You cant help but stare at it. Then take a look at this site. Each image is as stunning as the one before it. That's what typography is all about. It can be as powerful as good photography and sometimes more timeless. Photography can show a product, but typography sells it.
Words not only have power, but they can be beautiful as well. Strung together like pearls, they can sing like musical notes as you speak or read them. The right phrasing can make all the difference in the world between someone remembering what it is you're selling and staying with them, versus someone "changing the channel" by clicking forward or flipping to the next page. It's all about holding the viewer's interest and getting your message out there.
Painting is something that has been with me from the very beginning, so illustration has been a natural extension of that. I have never separated the two. They are sister and brother to one another. For example, here are some illustrations that could easily pass as fine art by Maxfield Parrish. People forget about the Golden Age of Illustration when it was up to the art to tell the story. These were paintings that were of incredible beauty and richness. This is why I've always had a hard time keeping them apart.
My paintings are about what I see around me and they are the view through my eyes. I paint in a stylized realism. Currently, I'm working on a series of paintings on the gentrification of Queen St. West in Toronto. It's one street that is known for its quaint neighborhood shops and eclectic atmosphere. It is slowly disappearing, being replaced by uber high-end shops and stores. That means that not only do the prices of goods sold there go up, but so do the rents. These paintings are of an area known as Parkdale. It's the last leg of Queen West that hasn't been affected yet, but it's coming. These paintings document the quaintness of Queen West and the people that live there.
