Category Archives: Drawings

Itsuo Kobayashi

Itsuo Kobayashi was born in 1962 and lives in Saitama prefecture.  Since he was 18 years old he took the time to document each and every meal he ate. Using pen and ink he filled notebook after notebook with delicious-looking paintings. The bento boxes and ramen drawings often included the name, price and ingredients of each meal.  The Japanese outsider artist and professional cook suffers from alcoholic neuritis and has difficulty walking.  Often bed-ridden he still draws from memory relying mostly on food deliveries from restaurants or deliveries from his mother.

Mr. Kobayashi is represent by Kushino Terrace Gallery. There is a great interview with him on the website, Note.

Images:  Courtesy of Itsuo Kobayashi and Kushino Terrace Gallery.

Albert Chamillard

Tucson-based artists Albert Chamillard builds his drawings with only pen and paper using well-worn books and found pieces of paper.  He spends hours working in layers beginning with a herringbone pattern of back and forth slashes. He repeats the process often reversing it until he seemingly creates an optical illusions.  He started small using notebooks but has since developed larger scale works.  On Zócalo magazine he says this about art:

“I try to make stuff that looks beautiful and is enjoyable for me to make. You start to question it too much and that just gets in the way.  There’s a human act called art, and I’m a part of it. I understand the compulsion to do it. It’s a way of responding to your world.”

You can view more of his work on Instagram and Etherton Gallery.

Images:  Courtesy of Albert Chamillard.

Mark Powell


In awe of the work of London-based artist Mark Powell.  He attended Huddersfield University studying Fine Art Drawing and Painting.  He uses old envelopes, postcards, newspapers, maps and other ephemera as a canvas and utilizes a biro pen to apply his art.  Here are some FAQs from his website regarding the artist:  

How do you choose a particular drawing?

“Each face I choose to draw has to have character and a suggestion of a history to tell. That way the viewer can create any narrative of a life that may have been lived. The same applies to the postcards or documents etc, neither the face or document have a connection beyond the fact both have an aesthetic quality of a history.”

Any advice on becoming an artist?

“There is no formula for this. I worked so many jobs and lived in so many houses but the only constant was my creating. Then one day someone noticed and i became an full time artist. But you dont need to do it full time to be an artist!”

You can follow the artist and see more of his work here on his website.

Images:  Courtesy of Mark Powell.

%d bloggers like this: