In a series of surrealism illustrations by American artist James Lipnickas of which he named them ‘In the Future, We Lose Contact’ (2019), what can be observed is surreal imageries of how the future may look like – a place where we all lost contact with one another, literally and figuratively.
Lipnickas drives his inspirations around themes of old sci-fi, mystery and horror; from the strange and the unexplained (The Writing Disorder). Charmed by the tonal representation of black and white photos, his works mainly revolves around artworks made of pencil and graphite, aiming to capture the essence of the dramatic image that came out of the monochromatic colours.
‘In the Future, We Lose Contact’ (2019) was an artwork that he pieced together as a series under Surrealism and Contemporary art. Created purely out of pencil and graphite, he again uses elements of monochromes to elicit the expressions of mystery, horror and fear of the unknown. The illustrations feature images of tall, open structures, with human figures separated from one another or from an opening of a lighted door – of what may seem to be a representation of opportunity.
Most of the illustrations show an unrealistic mean of getting to the ‘opportunity’, or the lighted door: the distance is too far; there is no staircase or mean of getting to the top; there is an obstacle ridiculously huge and impossible to get rid of. The expression of immense frustration is evident in his series of illustrations.
The illustrations, although simple with no elaborated drawings, has successfully conveyed the imagery of how the world will slowly become to – a place of closed opportunities caused by humans themselves through neglection.
Works Cited:
“James Lipnickas.” The Writing Disorder, 2015.
http://writingdisorder.com/james-lipnickas/
Lipnickas, James. “In the Future, We Lose Contact.” Behance, 2019.
https://www.behance.net/gallery/86329631/In-the-Future-We-Lose-Contact-Series-1-12-2019
Amienah Simangoon 