The kaleidoscopic colors, murals, and graffiti of Los Angeles imbue the city and its inhabitants with a sense of infinitude, freedom juxtaposed with the bustling realities of city life. Californian weather, much like the Californian temperament, is expectantly pleasant, laidback and colorful, the main character for many of its natives. Throughout his career, artist Steven Harrington has tapped into the visual language of pop iconography, visual repetition and the uncanny mirroring of his native city through illustrative and sculptural mediums.
Often described as psychedelic-Pop Art, Harrington’s acid-infused illustrations seem to grin in the face of chaos — bold, large-scale paintings and sculptures that personify familiar fixtures of LA. The palm tree, for instance, is a visual motif often deployed by Harrington and seemingly renders fantastical beings in the City of Angels.
Harrington’s most recent showing in LA, the 2019 solo exhibition “Magic Hour” held in Downton Los Angeles, showcased an array of paintings, larger-than-life sculptures and black and white canvases dominated by Harrington’s cartoon language. In commemoration of “Magic Hour,” Harrington developed a permanent mural for 3D Retro accompanied by the release of a limited-edition BE@RBRICK. Harrington has continually seized the opportunity to showcase art as a mercurial expansion of space and time.
With the emergence of digital art entering spaces that traditionally exalt physical and tangible mediums, the question stands if not when but how technology will continue to radicalize the experience and creation of art. The ASUS Vivobook 13 Slate OLED, the brand’s latest state-of-the-art laptop intended for graphic-intensive tasks, responds to the emerging demand for technology to accommodate myriad avenues of creation and the ability to customize artistic workflows. Steven Harrington speaks to HYPEBEAST on working with the tech brand to design the ASUS Vivobook 13 Slate OLED Steven Harrington Edition and the inspiration behind his graphic design language.
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