Over the weekend I decided that I should showcase artists/designers that act as the inspiration for my own personal artwork (I need to start drawing more again!). I have a few in mind I’d like to feature over the next couple of weeks and then whenever I find one after that.

Sylvia Ji is an LA artist that I discovered last year while perusing the Semi-Permanent speakers of the 2010 Melbourne Conference. I was instantly awestruck by her work and soon found myself trawling through all of the galleries on her website. Her style is very distinctive and different to what I’ve seen before which I believe is why it sticks with me and why she was the first artist that came to mind for this post.

From her bio, her artwork is described as “a passionate appreciation of simple aesthetic pleasure fused with intimately complex subject matter”. My favourite paintings are those with the Day of the Dead make-up as well as those with old 1700s European fashion influences. There’s such wonderfully fine details and bold colours to sit and stare at, even in her earlier works, and the subjects all have this exotic beauty with their cultural clothing and face paint/markings. I love how she gives life to these girl’s hair even though they’re painted quite flat on the canvas. It makes me wonder if the effect would be lost had she decided to detail it as much as she does the rest of the body. It’s interesting to note that when I look at these pictures, I find the subject’s have both a strong and intimidating presence along with appearing somewhat vulnerable. I would love to see these works in some animated feature in the same style.