In his illustration Olive Town, Ben Sears fills the canvas with the casual day to day life of a comic-inspired street corner. Sears populates the scene with any array of visually compelling citizens, each supplying a dose of lead character energy.
In the print Rock Castle City, Sears removes the ground, the Earth itself — the eponymous city suspended in the sky, clouds above and below. The lines are loose, thin. The colors reflect a perfect afternoon light. His style is comic, cartoonish in the same sense as the work of Moebius.
There is a clear reality in these impossible cityscapes, each inch clammers for attention, not with flailing arms but with condensed charm.
‘Olive Town’ by Ben Sears
‘Rock Castle City’ by Ben Sears
