THE CREEPER by Zach”Ink” Bowen..
By Krystal Mutschler
Sun associate editor
Two local street-artists that were featured at The Anomaly Show, hosted by GSC Clothing, Zack “Ink” Bowen and Jonathan Martinez, enter the Orange County art scene displaying versions of themselves in their art.
Bowen takes his paintings into a more surreal experience.
“I like to make nightmares as beautiful as possible,” he said. This is more than evident with his dripping ink and whirlpool array of colors on his canvas and wood paintings.
All of his artwork conveys a character in distress or without emotion, with eyes that are always white, with no pupils, leaving the viewer to decide the thoughts behind each painting. His intertwining lines weave about endlessly, creating a demented “down the rabbit-hole” effect.
Bowen’s art has a way of making you lock eyes with these creatures, causing your brain to search for a way to make sense of the creepy feeling that overcomes your body.
In the future, Bowen hopes to be able to take his street inspired pieces and turn it into album artwork.
Martinez has been painting since he was 17, and has evolved his art in a way that grabs the viewers attention with his bold shades of blues and pinks. With what seems a very basic color palate, Martinez is able to create a visual appeal and heritage-driven canvas that brings you into near euphoria.
Martinez draws experience from the Hispanic culture with the curves of the women he paints and the animals of those in the ancient Aztec world. Leopards and antelopes pop at you while the foreground is full of calming water that stems from his love of surfing.
Looking at the paintings, one would not instantly recognize just how much of his self he puts into them.
His future in art is now leaning towards that of the political side, with current pieces based upon the “Invisible Children,” with a small African child holding a gun and a gas mask, making references to how we as humans are destroying our environment.
