About
Artist portrait by Zhenya Sokolova ©
Natalie McKean (they,she,he) is a self-taught, full-time working artist and designer. Throughout their career they have created a wide body of work, starting in pen and ink, with the occasional acrylic, then evolving to scratchboards or “scratch art”, which is essentially sgrafitto. Natalie quickly found that they favored this new medium, of scratching off the black ink to reveal the white clay board underneath, then adding colored inks to bring the images to life. With this method, instead of adding shadow to light, they could reveal light within complete darkness. This dichotomy is the fuel for Natalie's art, which tells a story of a harmonious existence, where supposed opposites are fused; light and dark, magic and science, organic and technic.
Influenced by artists such as MC Escher, HR Giger and Frank Frazetta, Natalie's work is dark and mystical yet it hopes to inspire love and expansive thought. It is science fiction representing the metaphysical world, often portraying experiences, views & visions through imagery. Natalie began their professional art career in 2010 with a series of mechanical sea creatures on scratchboard, inspired from local marine life, titled 'Robotic Aquatic', but also explores themes such as extraterrestrial life, queerness, the strength of women, and human-technology hybrids. In addition to external influences, they use their lucid dreaming and astral projection experiences as a large source of inspiration.
After years of selling art nomadically and living out of a vehicle, Natalie found a home/studio in San Francisco, CA where they are currently working on my new comic, M33: Galaxy of Hybrids.
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