Joël Penkman paints hyperreal motifs for Aesop Agency's a2 Milk campaign

Hyperreal still life painter Joël Penkman has contributed a series of illustrations for use in Aesop Agency’s latest campaign for the a2 Milk Company.

Specialising in hyperreal food art using egg tempera paint, her pieces accompany “astonishing stories” in the form of customer testimonials. Joël’s paintings depict one image from each story, such as a big pair of knickers, a milkshake, some indigestion tablets and a baby monitor. As a series of central motifs across print and digital, these pieces are designed to evoke the emotional undertones and domesticity of the testimonials and ongoing campaign narrative.

Of her own work, Joël commented that, “A lot of my work focuses on a single object to tell a story.” As such, she hopes her work “triggers memories and emotion, I like that people can bring something of themselves to the artworks.”

Commenting on the choice of creative, Scott Wotherspoon CEO of a2 Milk explained that they were looking for someone who could, “retell real consumer stories in an authentic, engaging and visually arresting way.” Joël responded by producing, in her own words: “simple, unusual, images that didn’t compete with the text, but rather drew viewers in to read the ‘astonishing’ short stories were the real message was.”

Joël Penkman’s work has previously been featured as part of high-street food vendor Eat rebrand last year, and she has done editorial commissions for the Financial Times, Esquire and Town magazine.