One of our favourite artists right now is James Mylne, the original photo-realist ballpoint pen artist. Art school graduate James has a particular fondness for recreating the elegant looks of classic fashion icons such as Coco Chanel, Kate Moss and Audrey Hepburn, with a smattering of Tibetan Buddhist motifs and some wonderful animal portraits thrown in for good measure.
James has been employing ballpoints properly within his work since about 1996. He now mixes his unique ballpoint talent with other drawing media, such as markers, ink and spray paint. The realism of form and texture that James achieves with a simple ballpoint often leaves the viewer unable to believe the images have such a humble origin. Close inspection of a piece often leaves a sense of wonder that he can achieve such photo-realist beauty freehand with a ballpoint.
His most recent exhibition was Vintage Vogue, held in London last week at the Rook & Raven gallery. Definitely one to watch.
