Some art doesn’t ask to be invited, it simply moves to the room, makes all the other art work harder. If there is any way to put it, it’s this: At http://www.jordanarvanitakis.com, digital illustration isn’t concerned about what animals look like at all, it’s more about what bones they have to articulate with, and with colour, attitude, and graphic confidence that feels very contemporary. No one here would ever try to trick you into thinking that it’s a photo. Rather, every piece is playfully and purposefully stylised, with strong outlines and thoughtful palettes, shapes that are emotionally charged; work that feels more like a point of view than an ornament hanging on your wall.
The editing of stylised illustration is more difficult than realism at least on the emotional level—this is what makes it more difficult. All lines that remain in a piece of writing are selections. Each time a colour is chosen out of the 40 colours, it is an argument. Those arguments are made here with conviction — the owl isn’t actually depicted with all those feathers attached, it’s reduced to form and feeling, the kind that’s looking intently at something all afternoon. That selective approach is a component of personality that’s added to a piece and that’s more uncommon than technical correctness in digital art.
In the real world, not only is there no conflict between the desire for interesting art and putting it on a wall, but the high resolution digital files also eliminate the friction. No commissions on wait list, no long drawn out discussions on colour preferences, no budget overrun. You can download, print and frame by the weekend. Professionally styled interior people have figured it out ages ago. Everyone else is slowly getting the idea, typically after they see someone’s apartment and say, “where did that come from?
Also these pieces are unusual in terms of range provided by the animal theme. In a dark, moody living room a flat-coloured wolf is reading. Bold, character-driven illustration, as seen above, makes the leap from one scenario to another without it losing its identity — which is the point of good wall art.




















