Analysis of Contemporary Illustris Ian Macarthur

Ian Macarthur was born in Swindon, England. He became fascinated by art at only the age of eight when he was introduced to art through the medium of cartoon television shows and comic books. His first comic book he was inspired by was Batman and ever since he has been obsessed with art, drawing odd fantasy drawings and anime characters.

Ian Macarthur draws still life figurative portraits by varying the breath of his mark making with his different shades of pencil, then incorporates surrealism in a very subtle yet affective way. He usually adds this by breaking up the realistic portrait in a exciting manner mostly by patterns extracting out of the top of the head or back of the neck. In this specific piece he has woven out of the face to extend that  shock factor.

 The way Macarthur has purposely left a half blank circle in the middle of the woven section lets the audience imagination run wild. From my perspective I imagine it being a moon hiding behind the dark night sky.  This then gives you a sense of the portrait and makes you wonder what Macarthur is trying to symbolise through his work. In my opinion he is trying to bring to the audiences attention that in todays society we go through life so fast and are constantly thinking about ourselves. We walk around with a emotionless face as if it were forbidden to smile. We mostly do not realise that the person beside you may be going through a tough time.

Macarthur approached the woven sections in a illustrative and humorous way which gives a fantastic contrast to the more straight faced figurative portrait.

These are doodles are indirectly inspired by Ian Macarthur's minimalistic line work.