Sam D’Orazio: Sketchbook (detail)

Still life, abstracts and ultra-violence from the brilliant Sam D'Orazio

Posted by James Cartwright, Monday 18 March 2013

Illustrator Sam D’Orazio is to gouache what Robert Crumb is to pen and ink; a surreal, perverse creator of strange landscapes populated by grotesque versions of ourselves, all swollen-bodied and mentally unhinged. His characters represent some of the darkest and most confusing aspects of our day-to-day lives, haphazardly coming to terms with the situations they find themselves in; sometimes with unpredictably violent results.

But that’s not all Sam’s capable of producing, he’s also got a classical streak running through his work. He’s honed his compositional skill producing a multitude of traditional still lifes and advocates the use of abstraction within commercial illustration – a rare breed in today’s largely figurative landscape. We love Sam’s work, both for its surreal insightfulness and the way he sums up his practice: “Each thing I make is like some kind of shitty curry, and I’ve made it with all of these spices thrown in, and sometimes the cap falls off on one of the shakers.”

Sam D’Orazio: Personal Piece

Sam D’Orazio: Drawing on paper

Sam D’Orazio: Whatever

Sam D’Orazio: Personal Piece

Sam D’Orazio: Plansponsor Magazine

Sam D’Orazio: Quiet Water Spiller

Sam D’Orazio: Future self-portrait / Bonnie Prince Billy / Balding Adrian Brody

Sam D’Orazio: Plansponsor Magazine

Sam D’Orazio: Personal Piece

Sam D’Orazio: Sketchbook

Posted by James Cartwright

James started out as an intern in 2011 and is now one of our two editors. He oversees Printed Pages magazine and content wise has a special interest in graphic design and illustration. He also runs our online shop Company of Parrots and is a regular on our Studio Audience podcast.

jc@itsnicethat.com • @jdmcartwright •

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