io

Bio:

io is a Brooklyn based artist from Massachusetts. io started his artistic career working with black ink exclusively for years to first hone his compositional skills. His palette immediately filled itself with washed pastels as he explored the world of color in NYC as both an artist and a commercial/film colorist.

io is a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts with a BFA in film and television production. His films focus on topics of mental health and interpersonal relationships, and have won awards at festivals like Worldfest-Houston and Hollyshorts. His paintings have followed similar themes, but strive to foster connection through a more irreverent path, showing in New York + Paris with Superfine Art Fair, The Holy Art, and Art Gowanus.

io's work exists at the intersection of abstraction and illustration, merging figurative and representative visuals that can be summed up as: whimsical.

Artist Statement:

I believe that adults do not play enough, and my work exists to challenge that status quo. 

My most recent volume of the “lil guys” explicitly explores the concept of “play” and stresses the need for adults to nurture a sense of whimsy. Children play to deepen their self-awareness, understand their surroundings, and cultivate meaningful interpersonal relationships. In short, children play as a means of self-actualization. Why then, do most adults grow to neglect play? 

Surely this journey of self-actualization doesn’t end in childhood. Playing as an adult requires humility and resilience. You must be unafraid to laugh at yourself when you don't succeed, and unapologetic when you try again—without fear of judgment. 

Through acrylic pastel paintings and illustrated representational characters of lil guys, I aim to spark the question to all viewers, "Why don't I play more?" The lil guys are genderless, ageless, human-like beings. They are made to be projected onto by anyone. They are made to be the vessel by which these questions about self can be asked. They are made to be dynamic mirrors, with a dash of eccentricity.