The Butterfly Effect

March 20th, 2010

Whether you’re a tailor on Savile Row or a Toronto-based artist, details matter – especially when 20,009 hand drawn butterflies are in the spotlight.

Canadian creative Nicholas Di Genova comes from a background of anime, comic books, and Otaku culture, so his knack for drawing and painting detailed, fictitious figures isn’t surprising so much as it is captivating. The way he interlocks elements of reality with fantasy walks the fine line of beauty and bewilderment.

In Di Genova’s latest collection of ink drawings, which was recently presented as a solo show at the Fredericks & Freiser Gallery in New York, he uses a Chimera (an imaginary fire-breathing monster composed of several different animal parts, if you know your Greek Mythology) as a source of inspiration. Thought bubbles guide the audience and reference a point of origin while flora and fauna are intertwined to create whimsical mutations from another world. Perhaps ironically, in many ways this world reflects our own: The zebra-daffodil hybrid firmly rooted in soil serves as a humble reminder that we are all connected by elements that transcend reality. Each character is hand-drawn, among 20,009 you won’t find any two identical butterflies.

And so it seems these creations still stand out – and fit right in.

Words Jordana Longo

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