Friday 13 July 2012

Izziyana Suhaimi

I have recently become a little bit obsessed with this wonderful artist Izziyana Suhaimi.
Her work is unique and distinctive, and something I can relate very strongly to.
Here are some examples of her pieces that caught my eye:
I think there is always something to be said for the simplicity of a good quality pencil drawing. I'm impressed with the way Izziyana has embellished her illustrations (with the dreamy watercolour backgrounds, and detailed colour popping embroidery) without 'refining' her drawings any further. It gives the images a raw and honest quality...and I admire this in the way it lays the artist quite bare- we can see exactly where her hands have been on the paper, the embroidery she has done with her own hands, the original pencil marks she has made, unclouded by the use of technology.

On her blog she states:
I am attracted to the evidence of the hand and its time-consuming aspect, which runs counter to the instant gratification and mass-production centred age of today.
I couldn't agree with this more! Her work certainly does suggest this work ethic- it is very detailed and appears very carefully and lovingly done, not a stitch/pencil line/brush stroke out of place. There is definitely a reward in work that takes such time and dedication, because (in my opinion) it does stand out a mile from the hum-drum of illustration images around us today.
It's encouraging that other people seem to see this too, and Izziyana has been able to apply her work commercially through various interesting collaborations, including working with the creative team on a cover of the independent magazine, Catalog.
The mixture of photo, drawn and embroidered imagery looks surprisingly natural in these images, and not busy or clashing at all. Again, the bold colour of the thread is what really sets off the image, and the overall effectiveness is achieved through the knowing the careful balance of the three elements- the photo, pencil and thread are joined seamlessly.

Here's two interesting little interviews I found through a couple of blogs:

I know I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this lady's work...

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