Beatrice Ajayi

Hi everyone my famous line, ‘its been a while’ is used once again. I decided to get back to my artist of the week segment. This sunny week in april i am looking at Aubrey Beardsley. I have lost count of the amount of people who have said my work reminds them of his work. So I made an effort to looking at some of his work.

We do have similarities, our subject is the female form, we both have alot of Black and White images, and we love to use ink, be it pen or printing techniques.

We both have a narrative within our images – in this area is were we diverge strongly. Beardsleys content have been recognised as being quite erotic. I aim to look for an innocence in my subjects. Even though my Empresses are sometimes adults, their focus is on the wisdoms they can gain to govern their countries well. So since being aware of Beardsley it has been with a pinch of salt that I take our comparism.

It gives me great comfort when someone actually asks me what my work is about and doesnt just base it on the visual connections of other artists.

Regardless of my rantings Beardsley’s skill as an artist, illustrator and storyteller are undeniable. To read of artists that made an income in the medium of ink in his days and compare with our modern times is intriging. Alot of viewers of my work always wish i worked in colour. Appreciation of my medium is not that great, which is amazing considering they usually like my work.

Beardsley likes his silhouette and dark backgrounds, which I tend to stay away from. I use the patterns and detail on my images to to show a richness possibly missing in not applying colour. My patterns are the colour.

Check out the link above in bold of Beardlsey’s name to look at his work. See if his or my work share similarities in your mind.