May 162011
 

The animals being fused with human bodies gives me the feeling that these are expression of perpetual and universal human conditions. Almost all his artwork are incredibly intense and I find myself gripped every time I feast my eyes on his work. Needless to say that the anatomical detail and proportions of his artworks are brilliant.

The Repetition rang (First 2 Illustrations) for me expresses anxiety, struggle, fighting, angst, trapped, rebellion, frustration but all intertwined in on itself – feeding upon itself deepening that experience. A self fulfilling prophecy, one emotion triggering another until absolutely embroiled with no definite starts or ends.  The Room range (Last 3 Illustrations) individually have their meanings. The Rabbit and the Tiger seem very symbolic/mythological but what I would say it  shares with Repetition is the sense of perpetual struggle. A struggle bound to nothing but itself,  nourishes the fight. The other two I will leave open for your own interpretation.

The below two art works are from his Repetition range:

Ryohei-Hase-Rabbit-People

Ryohei-Hase-Dogs-Chains

 

The below 3 art works are from his Room range:

 

Ryohei-Hase-Battle

Ryohei-Hase-Water-Trap

Ryohei-Hase-Blood

May 072011
 

Always lovely to receive a collection of great illustrations from SVA. The exhibition brings together animations, children’s books, graphic novels, figurative paintings, comic books and other narrative works by 21 students graduating from the MFA Illustration as Visual Essay Department at SVA. Curated by faculty member David Sandlin, the exhibition will be on view April 29 – May 14, 2011 at the Visual Arts Gallery, 601 West 26th Street, 15th Floor, New York City.

It’s a very diverse group of illustrators graduating from the MFA Illustrations as a Visual Essay Department at SVA. Some standouts include:
• Chi Birmingham’s The Plainview Dispatch: illustrated observations of a fictional town during the height of the Gold Rush.
• The Romance of Tristan & Iseult by Philip Cheaney: interactive animated eBook for the iPad. Video sample here: http://vimeo.com/22456387
• Pimlada Phuapradit creates a curious world of defective toys.
• Korean illustrator Jungyeon Roh celebration of the vegan diet.

Here is a collection of what will be at the exibition: