Alive II

Alive II

10 artists

Curated by Jon Vaughn

Published by Ecstasy Editions

Coil bound, 184 pages, colour cover, b/w interior.

Front cover by Jack Sachs

Back cover by Raida Álava

Drawings by:

Jack Sachs (UK/Germany)

Motohiro Hayakawa (Japan)

Nick Payne (USA)

Zuzu Knew (Iceland)

Jay Isaac (Canada)

Mario Scorzelli (Italy)

Liao Yen-We (Taiwan)

Valeria Hernandez (Chile)

Santiago Licata (Buenos Aires)

Raisa Álava (Spain)

Alive II is an second anthology in an ongoing series exploring the expression, energy and presence of the human condition through the medium of drawing. Vaughn invites 10 new artists to join the series, selecting figurative drawings working in both surrealist cartooning and expressive realism.

The Frankensteined bodies and twisted biological experiments of Motohiro Kayahawa open the pages of Alive II. In contrast to his paintings of apocalyptic alien war zones, these drawings are stark, poetic and delicately expressed ih pencil in his sketchbook. These works expose a lesser known side of the artist, strongly invested in the human subject. Shifting inspirations from imaginary to lived experience, elements of a deeply personal narrative permeate the drawings of Nick Payne. Although we can not know all of his references and associations, his expressive line work conveys the personality of distinctly offbeat characters and their emotional and psychological predispositions. Zuzu Knew is another visionary artist who makes lush, fantastical figurative drawings that shimmer and bubble with her special vibrant energy. Her work emerges from the mystical folklore of her cultural and family lineage, growing into beings that represent her own emotionally charged reality. While Jack Sachs is very well known for his 3D animations and digital work, he keeps an incredibly active sketchbook wherever he travels and lives. Reflecting on his diverse range of experiences throughout the world and with technology, he fills sketchbooks with drawings blending subjects and objects from everyday life with bio-mechanical robotics, examining how human identities are being reconstructed through contemporary possibilities. Down the street and through a murky alley lies the cool, dank and creepy world of Jay Isaac. Like an alternate reality sandwich from a Naked Lunch delivered to your door by the Terminator, Isaac invites the viewer to become the voyeur in his bizarre, perverse and hallucinatory narrative to which he is always the central character.

Liao Yen-We merges the grotesque and absurd with a dash of manga-inspired charm to channel both the damaged psyche and ecstatic spirit. The toxins spread by tropes of gender, sexuality and family reveal their affects on the human psyche, fetishizing each other through their own self-induced mythological constructions. Once upon a time, in a land far away exists the fantastical realm of Mario Scorzelli, who’s pages continue a theme of the transformation of identity and self through technology. Envisioning an alien world where magic and machines co-exist among elves, trolls and demons is the thrust of figurative works, which loosely form an ongoing comic narrative. Valeria Hernandez’ draws hybrid subjects that appear both ancient, futuristic, adopting a range of characteristics that appear both alien and human. Movement and the representation of time are strongly present in her representation of experience. Personal and cultural content gently resonate behind the fantastical exterior, informing the surfaces and mutations of her characters. Santiago Licata exquisitely renders his drawings in charcoal and pencil, diving deep into dreams and memory to isolate symbolism and imagery in the darkest forest of being. From air, to water, earth and fire Santiago brings a visceral element from nature that speaks to our desire for the tactile, even if only accessed by metaphor. Using almost exclusively flat line, Raisa Alava explores the energy of social anxiety and the chaos of everyday urban life in an effort to stimulate our gaze. By confronting the viewer with her representation of the human condition, she shares an intensely plural, endlessly multiple and vastly connected experience of being alive.