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With the help of doodles and tangled vines Oyow is igniting emotions.
The renowned Korean artist Oyow’s drawings have for long been about relationships described by the usage of people and plants. Now he wants to make the subtle connection between his previous work and lighters – which is all about fire.
In the mountainous countryside of South Korea, an unsuspected illustrator, named Oyow, rose to life. To the soothing sound of the river flowing past his house, and migratory birds painting the sky black, his imagination naturally sparked. Suddenly his soul was destined to the world of art – without ever losing his spirit in it.
Recently, Cricket sat down with the Seoul based artist for a flourishing discussion about his inner spark, youth, and his blooming design for our newly launched lighters.
When asked to describe his work, Oyow gave the impression that he believes the interpretation should be left to the observer, rather than dictated by the artist himself. “You might see it as hope or love. You might call it courage or passion.”
Like most of us, Oyow never really set out to be what he has become now. “I was just trying to figure out what I was good at and what I liked to do, and before I knew it, I was creating art.”
Therefore, there was never a particular moment in his life where he realized he wanted to be an artist. The significant moment was rather when he understood – he already was one. “I remember drawing on my hands with colored pens when I was very young and people didn't believe I was the one doing it. That's when I first realized that I had a talent for drawing.”
Living in the bustling city of Seoul, Oyow thrives in the hustle and bustle, preferring it to quiet, slow times. The city’s vibrancy allows him to work with global clients, while still being based in his home city. “Including cool brands like Cricket”, he laughingly says.
But artistic inspiration can be quite unpredictable and unique to each artist, and for Oyow, his physical environment in Seoul doesn't really inspire him much. Instead, whenever he runs out of gas, he turns to other aspects of his life. “Ever since I was a child, I loved picture books. I wanted to be one of the people telling those wonderful stories”. So, whenever Oyow feels his creative spark needs rekindling, he turns to them.
Every year, you make a book focusing on youth and love. Can you tell us about your own younger days?
“The subject I like to raise in the books is different every time. Everything changes, and so do I. In each book, I talk about something that ignites my inner spark, and I especially like to talk about those restless but free years when you’re on the borderline of being neither an adult nor a child, where the spark of youth still flickers brightly.”
Oyow describes his art as “Visual Poetry”, meaning to tell a story without the use of words. His favorite design process, or telling a story if you will, involves stencil printing, which allows him to create splashes of color that stay true to the original shades. For those who are new to the idea of stencil printing, think of it like this:
Imagine you have a piece of paper with holes cut out in the shape of people and flowers. Now, if you hold this paper over a blank sheet and color over the holes with a marker, you’ll see the humans and the flowers on the blank sheet. That’s pretty much what stencil printing is - using a template with holes (the stencil) to create a design or picture.
Stencil printing is just one of Oyow’s many ways of expression, each method adding a unique spark to his creations. How he goes about designing is very flexible. “I like to use digital and analog together. It depends on what I'm trying to express or the subject matter. Sometimes I draw exclusively in digital and sometimes I work exclusively in analog.”
Now you’re putting your design mark on a collection of Cricket Lighters. Describe your thoughts behind it. What do you want people to feel?
“I've been working on analogies about relationships through people and plants. I wanted to make a subtle connection between this way of working and Cricket Lighters, which is all about fire. When we lean on each other, we show ourselves. And I came up with the idea of using flowers to represent the emotions that bloom in this connected heart-the quiet, hot feelings that bloom inside and are expressed outside.”
“Isn't this like a scene of flames? Like a tiny ember that starts with a little friction from people leaning against each other and soon grows into a full-blown fire. I thought that was the common thread between my work and Cricket, and that image stuck with me from the beginning. The five flowers have different shapes, but they all symbolize flames, and I wanted to show the different ways in which those emotions are expressed.”
Oyow’s art often shows how relationships can be beautiful and peaceful, but at the same time be complicated. The popular phrase “A perfect match, that’s why we burnt out” could maybe be seen as a reflection of these complexities, and his collection for Cricket Lighters.
A “perfect match” paints the picture of a harmonious and well-balanced relationship, much like the beautiful interactions often depicted in Oyow’s work. The latter part of the phrase, “perhaps that’s why we burnt out,” introduces the idea of a relationship being so passionate, leading to transformation. Here, in Oyow’s art, he shows characters who are together, tangled up in leaves and vines, not as symbols of isolation or being stuck, but as representations of personal growth, re-discovering their inner spark and the journey of self-discovery that often comes after such firey experiences.
And what does fire mean to you?
“It means many different things for me. Sometimes it can mean love, sometimes it's inspiration and sometimes it's regret.”
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