Bjenny Montero, an underground hero of melancholic comics

Bjenny Montero is an underground hero of comic strips. The Melbourne-born artist creates humorous melancholic pieces that touch on guilty pleasures (eating pizza in bed is a running theme), loneliness and the pretentiousness of certain individuals. His lo-fi ink and watercolour drawings instantly catch your eye with sarcastic jokes that are easy to digest, like nuggets of farcical illustrations that leave you wanting more.

The balance of culture and hilarity in Bjenny’s work attracts a certain type of audience, one that is perfect for his work to be appropriated by bands. His illustrations can be seen in merchandise for Mac Demarco and Kurt Vile, and a more expansive trippy overload on a sleeve for Pond’s Man, It Feels Like Space Again. When discussing his process Bjenny insists that he doesn’t have one, “I just have to draw or else I fall apart”, and when it comes to having a studio, “I have no space of my own so just anywhere will do.” There is no pressure or rush with Bjenny’s work, it’s natural and therefore the humour feels unenforced. He is influenced by "Gary Larson and The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, and while working, “I listen to Lenny Kravitz”, he says.

Famous for his recurring characters of weed smoking green frogs, to a chilled out dawg listening to records, the humour and reliability of Bjenny’s work is shared worldwide. However, this weekend (4th September) Bjenny’s work comes to London at New Kid Tiny Shop in Dalston where he will be exhibiting works from his sketchbook.