Agata Kawa Reviving the Arts and Crafts
Good morning / evening everyone (depending where you might be reading this ! ) and a big welcome to 2015 on Fishink Blog.
I hope you have had a fab festive break and are now ready to embrace the new year. Thank you for finding your way back to me, do please continue to comment and spread the word about my blog because without you things just wouldn’t be the same. I do appreciate your comments and thoughts, ideas and suggestions so keep them coming too.
Ok that said I’ll introduce our first post this year… enjoy : )
Agata Kawa is a painter and contemporary artist. She is something of an enigma and occasionally completely changes her illustration style from the one I’ve concentrated on in this post. Her art and work in Décorative Arts places itself in the continuation of the 19th century Symbolists and Arts & Crafts movements. She even takes elements from their paintings. Below you can see Agata’s drawing , influenced by John Everett Millais.
I like the fact that she has absorbed elements from the likes of Morris and the Pre Raphaelites, (amongst others), but in turn, has also made her illustrations feel new and more up to date. In a way she helps to keep their work alive. Beautiful drawings here.
These pieces remind me strongly of the work of Aubrey Beardsley but again with Agata’s twist of part tiger – part winged beast etc.
There’s great strength in her drawings.
I particularly like these Morris inspired pieces with animals and people escaping from his floral swathes.
Along the years, Agata Kawa has been a Graphic Designer, an Art Director for animated movies, a drawing, painting and sculpture teacher in ateliers. As a freelancer she is now a Painter, an Arts & Crafts designer, an Illustrator (notably children books), and lives near Paris. With her red hair she could almost be a modern day Pre-Raphaelite model herself lol
Here are some illustrations from her book “Dedicated to the Tiger”, I love that it’s stripes have become swirls. I find Agata’s work beautifully ornate and decorative with sumptuous yet harmonious colours.
Apart from her beautifully illustrated books, Agata’s work has been used on lampshades, jigsaws and many other items.
Fabulous work. What do you think readers ?
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I so much enjoy your blogs introducing artists with explanations and illustrations of their creative skills.
Thank you Bilo, I love discovering new talented people so I’m guessing other folk do too lol Thanks for the comment to let me know, much appreciated.
Thank you! I really enjoyed seeing Agata Kawa’s work. Your blog is always so worth reading!
Thank you Tanya, that’s great to hear : )
Seeing an Art Deco influence also… I would love to have some of those lamps and I’d go for the red/orange hair if I were younger, but now I’d just look like a crazy old lady. 🙂 Isn’t it wonderful that with art and imagination we can make the world appear more magical that it actually is?
Perhaps you could have a red streak to give you that ‘wild’ element (if you feel you really need one lol. I liked the lamps too.
for now, my red purse will have to suffice.
What a wonderful work! Thanks for sharing!
My pleasure, thanks for the comment.
second look, are those lamp shades or lanterns? At any rate, they are fun.
I’d say they’re chinese paper lanterns, but possibly also called lampshades too lol
I meant Art Nouveau.