White Tiger – Artist Eyan Higgins Jones

You know how when you’re at your aunts house and she has that planter on the table and you touch it cause you want to know if the flowers are real. A little surprised “Oh, they’re real”. That’s kind of the same sensation you get when you see one of Eyan Higgins Jones Animal Portraits.

They look so f’ing real you want to touch them. The colors are rich, really vibrant. And there is a perfect symmetry to the faces of pieces like his White Tiger Head. As we all know symmetry, is what makes models, super models. The animals stare back at you in a heroic almost godlike gaze.

When we got together at his studio in Marin, he starts going off on nozzles and streams of paint and I’m thinking he has huffed a lot of aerosols in his day. Hold on, that’s his process, the lifelike paintings are all airbrush, his technique has descended from early graffiti roots in the burbs of Wales. He’s achieving these virtual snapshots with flowing airbrush streams and torn sheets of cardboard.

His collection of work leads you from the proud Animals to these amazing, sensual flowers each named for an epic video game or character we battled in our early Nintendo days. “Gardens of  Galaga” a god damn classic. Stoney fiery iconic images of Orchids and Lily’s that would change the character of any wall it sits upon, mostly botanist and slightly porno.  Eyan’s unique style of airbrush painting has been  commissioned by Reknowned British Contemporary Artist Marc Quinn.  The Marc Quinn commissioned version called “TROPOPAUSE” recently sold for $380,000 US dollars on Sothebys.  Ello governor!

“So Eyan” I say between bites of a taco from his favorite lunch spot in San Rafael. “I know it’s a lame question, but what’s your inspiration, where are you heading?” He’s like “I love the natural world, video games, and Star Wars.” Of course I don’t always associate a videogame playing Star Wars junky out on a nature hike. But then you start to think, these are all massive dreamscapes. The perfect world in a time when we have Oil spills, glaciers retreating and animals and plants disappearing. He’s balls-on with a portrayal of the natural world that should inspire us to hold on to the precious balance of our planet.

From London to Madrid, to San Francisco its nice to have Eyans Higgins Jones in our neighborhood, so that you can enjoy this natural collection up close.

Eyan Higgins Site - Stay tuned for more work and a spring showing in Los Angeles

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