Henrik Drescher is always trying new approaches to art. This his latest foray into the world of “different.” He calls them “psychadelicios illustration“ and are more related to his love of “Mughal and medieval painting than psychedelics, and I was inspired by the Armenian exhibition at the Met recently.” I asked him to show and tell more.
What is this thing you are calling ‘psychadelicios illustration’?
It’s me making colorful energized pictures. For years now I’ve drifted away from commercial illustration (in favor of personal picture making); this new direction is me being happy with making narrative visuals again
What is the impetus?Much of what pushes me in any direction has to do with circumstances and materials, in the past 15 years I began making large landscapes based on Chinese scroll painting because I was living in the mountains of western China, recently, back in Brooklyn I discovered Japanese acrylic markers called Posca, I really liked their opacity and silk screen printed quality, I began embellishing photographs with them, which is something I’ve done in one way or another since i was a wee-lad. this led me to offering the service of ‘psychadelicious portrait embellishments’ where people send me a jpg, I print it out, after cleaning, rearranging and laying out it in photoshop I print it out on glossy photo paper, i then embellish the photos with the markers and send original back to the client.
Why did you select a psychedelic approach?
I’ve always been into borders, patterning, marginalia and filigree, I suppose its inspired by the kind of subconscious automatic doodling that happens when we’re on the phone or just spacing out….a kind of meditative process, which I suppose is why mandalas repeat in emanating patterns as they do.
I’m not religious, nor am I or have I ever been a member of the Hippie party. I like skirting the edge of the almost unbearably cornball aesthetic of psychedelica and then pulling it back from the edge to a deeper and more conceptual place.
How are you marketing this?
I’m not really sure how to market anything anymore. I use social media to get portrait commissions, I really like the intimate interaction of making portraits for people. But ultimately off course I need to get ‘real’ jobs, it’s a new thing for me, and I hope that smart art directors will play with me…. I can see doing editorial work ,book jackets, animation…fashion spreads etc., in this visual mode.
What do you hope will be the result?Fame fortune adoration; the second coming of Mr. Drescher the psychadelicious illustrator. Actually I’ll settle for small change and a cup of coffee at this point.