Two branches of art that are hugely popular are surrealism and hyperrealism. Surrealist art involves creating images that are bizarre, other-worldly, and create a sense of wonder in those that view them. In hyper-realist works of art, the goal of the artist is to produce images that look exactly like real-life, meaning that those that view the artwork can sometimes be unsure as to whether they are looking at a photograph or a piece of art produced with oil paintings, charcoal or other mediums.
One amazing artist from South Africa has brought together both surrealism and hyper-realism to create an unbelievable body of work that is now highly-sought after by art fans and collectors from across the world. Jono Dry creates photograph-like images that are utterly bizarre but extremely compelling, with a specific focus upon the human body and the natural world. His works include a human eye with a human-body within the iris, an elephant emerging from a pool of water in a pair of hands, and mythical half-man half-beast creatures.
In every image, extreme attention is given to detail, including every fold of skin, every shadow and every glint of light, meaning that each piece of work can take up to 6-months to complete from start to finish.
In an interview with ArtBookGuy, Dry said of his work:
"I enjoy the idea of having no limit with my work. When the only limit is your imagination, it becomes a wonderful challenge to see how far it can stretch. It feels like I'm constantly exploring and pushing the boundaries of my own imagination with the goal to find something worth spending time, bringing to life in the form of a drawing."
On Dry's Instagram, where he displays many of his pieces, he accompanies most works with a description of both the image itself and his motivation behind creating it, thereby giving a deeper insight into what goes into creating such fantastic works of art. He is not only showing the finished works, but also sharing the amazing creative process that goes into each and every one.
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A post shared by Jono Dry (@jonodry)
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