Kevin Varian

ABOUT KEVIN

I'VE BEEN DRAWING FOR AS LONG AS I CAN REMEMBER. I LOVED MAKING CUTE BUT WEIRD CREATURES, INSPIRED BY ALL THE 90'S AND EARLY 2000'S CARTOONS I GREW UP WITH ON CARTOON NETWORK, NICKELODEON, AND ADULT SWIM. LATER ON IN COLLEGE, I DISCOVERED ARTISTS LIKE TAKASHI MURAKAMI, WHO OPENED UP A WHOLE NEW UNIVERSE OF STYLES AND MOODS I HADN'T SEEN BEFORE. AT THE SAME TIME, I GOT REALLY INTO DRAWING HUMAN FIGURES, INSPIRED BY YOSHITAKA AMANO AND KATSUHIRO OTOMO.

FOR A WHILE, I COULDN'T DECIDE WHICH STYLE I WANTED TO STICK WITH. I WAS IN LOVE WITH TOO MANY DIFFERENT REFERENCES. I ENJOYED CREATING STRANGE LITTLE CREATURES, BUT I ALSO LOVED THE DRAMA AND SERIOUSNESS OF HUMAN FIGURES. EVENTUALLY, I FIGURED OUT I DIDN'T HAVE TO CHOOSE. INSTEAD, I STARTED MIXING THE TWO WORLDS TOGETHER: BLENDING THE MOOD OF MY HUMAN FIGURES WITH THE PLAYFUL WEIRDNESS OF THE CREATURES I CALL GUMS. THAT MIX SLOWLY BECAME THE UNIQUE CHARACTER OF MY WORK.

MY ART BLENDS LOGIC AND IMAGINATION, BRINGING BACK THE PLAYFUL CREATIVITY WE OFTEN LOSE AS WE GROW OLDER. I LIKE WHEN MY WORK CONNECTS WITH PEOPLE IN UNEXPECTED WAYS. FOR ME, ART DOESN'T ALWAYS HAVE TO BE HEAVY OR SERIOUS. SOMETIMES IT'S JUST ABOUT CREATING AN ESCAPE: STRANGE, FUN, AND THOUGHTFUL ALL AT ONCE.