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A surreal painting featuring abstract figures and organic shapes in a palette of pink, blue, red and olive green. Stylised faces and creatures appear scattered across a fragmented, layered landscape.

Cheeky-faced characters in Tim Romanowsky’s surreal illustrations

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Date
26 October 2015

Germany-based Tim Romanowsky’s illustrations are oddly peculiar, yet somehow still fit together wonderfully in his imaginative, if slightly surreal, fantasy world. Playful faces and creatures with cartoon-like eyes peek out from behind Tim’s abstract backgrounds made up of slices of pattern and shapes.

These amorphous characters add a layer of whimsy and interrupt the muted and disordered land Tim’s created. The illustrator is also part of a design collective called Zyklop based in Halle, Germany, with designers Tobias Jacob and Alexander Schmidt. Their work has a similarly eccentric tinge to it, but it’s great to get a sense of Tim’s personal style.

A surrealist painting featuring a collection of abstract, organic shapes and figures in a vibrant palette. A large black silhouette dominates the left, while a smaller green figure stands within a rectangular frame to the right.
Above
Left

Tim Romanowsky: Paintings

A painting of three stylised figures with wide eyes and red faces, huddled together. They are surrounded by abstract, organic shapes in shades of green, blue and pink.
A painting of a stylised figure with a pink, oval face and a simple expression. The figure has a dark, textured circular body and is surrounded by abstract, colourful shapes and patterns.
Above
Left

Tim Romanowsky: Paintings

An abstract painting featuring a large black silhouette of a head and a small, pale yellow face with red markings. The composition is layered with blue shapes, yellow blocks and a pink background covered in red squiggles.
An abstract painting featuring a collage of organic shapes and patterns in blue, pink, and brown. A dark, blocky figure with wide eyes and bared teeth looks across a fragmented landscape.
Above
Left

Tim Romanowsky: Paintings

An abstract painting featuring a central dark figure with a single visible eye. The composition is a collage of shapes and patterns, including a purple area with pink squiggles and a red-and-white striped form.
An abstract painting of a dark, textured figure with a wide, toothy grin. A bright orange beam of light shoots from its eye across a composition of swirling red, blue and grey shapes.
Above
Left

Tim Romanowsky: Paintings

A colourful painting of a purple-skinned figure with long black hair, looking to the left. A blue, jagged shape like a bolt of lightning strikes towards their eye. Below, a tiger stands among green foliage against a deep blue background.

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About the Author

Rebecca Fulleylove

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Rebecca Fulleylove is a freelance writer and editor specialising in art, design and culture. She is also senior writer at Creative Review, having previously worked at Elephant, Google Arts & Culture, and It’s Nice That.

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