About birds and fish: fantastic hybrids of Nicholas di Genova
About birds and fish: fantastic hybrids of Nicholas di Genova

Video: About birds and fish: fantastic hybrids of Nicholas di Genova

Video: About birds and fish: fantastic hybrids of Nicholas di Genova
Video: Before they pass away: Jimmy Nelson at TEDxAmsterdam - YouTube 2024, May
Anonim
Nicolas Di Genova: Adult Chicken-Slug with Egg-Clutch
Nicolas Di Genova: Adult Chicken-Slug with Egg-Clutch

Toronto-based Canadian illustrator Nicholas di Genova lives in his studio in a fictional world inhabited by strange mutated animals mired in wars and interspecies relationships.

Nicolas Di Genova grew up in a small town where the boy had nothing to do with himself most of the time. But there was a comic book store. And so it happened that after eight years spent reading stories about superheroes, manga and sky-fi, Nicolas began to draw his own worlds with invented creatures and monsters. After his move to Toronto, during his school years, all this colorful bestiary naturally migrated to street art - a new hobby of a young artist, who at that time signed his not entirely legal masterpieces with the pseudonym Medium.

Illustrations by Nicholas di Genova
Illustrations by Nicholas di Genova

Over time, the childhood hobby grew into a serious career. Nicolas Di Genova's illustrations have earned accolades in an impressive collection of prints in Canada and America and have been exhibited in art galleries in Toronto, New York, and Singapore. London and Berlin.

Nicolas Di Genova: Cordyceps Toad
Nicolas Di Genova: Cordyceps Toad
Illustrations by Nicholas di Genova
Illustrations by Nicholas di Genova

The works of Di Zhenova on an encyclopedic scale demonstrate the species, families and populations of fantastic creatures - from quite pretty, to clearly hatching plans to conquer the world. The stories that Di Genova comes up with for each new series of illustrations echo each other, sometimes borrowing motives from classical mythology, and developing into a post-apocalyptic saga about interspecies marriages, families and warring clans.

Nicolas Di Genova: Lesser Turkey Hydra
Nicolas Di Genova: Lesser Turkey Hydra
Illustrations by Nicholas di Genova. Sketch
Illustrations by Nicholas di Genova. Sketch

Di Genova works with ink and materials that are used in analog animation: opaque paints and mylar (a film based on synthetic polyester fiber). This technique allows the illustrator to fully demonstrate his mastery of line and color. He really knows how to paint, which nowadays is becoming an optional skill for an artist. His illustrations combine the pedantry of old illustrated biological atlases, the technical clarity of graphic design, and the light conceptual madness of modern art.

Nicolas Di Genova: Example of a bird / amphibian hybrid
Nicolas Di Genova: Example of a bird / amphibian hybrid

The passion for fictional worlds and creatures, together with Di Zhenova, is shared by the artists Simon Stålenhag and Leo Eguiarte, already known to us from previous materials.

Recommended: