Ever wondered who Luke Stephenson would pick as his favorite still life photographer ? Or which illustrators Anthony Burrill currently has a style crush on ? Well look no further than our brand new Recommends column. A place where artists share their photography and illustration crushes. To kick this off we hand over to the brilliant illustrator Steve Wilson.
One of the most hotly anticipated speakers at this year's OFFF15 in Barcelona, Steve has worked with the likes of Nike, MTV, Sony, Wallpaper Magazine, The New Yorker, Warner Music and created some brilliant artwork for bands including Panama Wedding, Soja, Skrillex and The New Pornographers. Below Steve explains why he has chosen to recommend the work of the excellent illustrator Edward Monaghan.
I appreciate all sorts of styles and techniques so long as it is well crafted whether it be digitally or by hand so there are lots of people that spring to mind but I am going to choose Edward Monaghan. There are obvious reasons as to why I might be drawn to his work, such as his colour palette and a psychedelic influence behind the work which I can relate back to my own work.
However, that's not why I picked him. I saw his work in print for the first time at Pick Me Up last year. It was printed large and it made the bold colours and weight of line really stand out so he caught my eye straight away and his prints were my favourite pieces at the show.
I think aside from admiring the obvious of what you see when you look at his work, the weight of line, the balance and selection of colour, compositions and the level of imagination I also find the work very brave. It seems like a strange thing to say but I have been a practising illustrator for nearly 15 years and it took me a long time to feel able to work confidently without visual reference and to trust myself to do that. He is creating work in that way having only graduated in the last 2 years and it makes the work very unique. I love the fact the compositions and arrangements aren't always obvious and sometimes you have to look for a while to work it out but I recognise the bravery and equally the skill involved to be able to execute work like that.