Artist Spotlight: "Blocks Guy"

k so it's like way late in the day, I have a bunch of homework due tomorrow which I haven't started, and my monitor is barely working.

time for a blog post.

first off, I have no clue if this person is a guy or not, but I've always called them "Blocks Guy"

my file naming system makes sense to me, okay?

they have no posted name, gender, or profile picture.  they never describe, or even title their paintings. hell, they don't use tags, which is astonishing, considering they still manage to hit the front page of Pixiv.  Blocks Guy's work is striking, even shocking.  when their work isn't flat-out non-objective, good luck trying to figure out what this dude is trying to say.  you can't help the feeling that there's a narrative going on just beneath the surface, and that if the artist tipped their hand just a little, everything would make sense.

here's their gallery.  jump through real quick and see if you pick up on what I'm saying.  if you don't have a Pixiv account, I guess you'll just have to trust me lol.

Source

Blocks Guy used to post some abstract figurative works.  they've since moved away from figure, and for the past two years has been focusing on abstract landscape, usually featuring some basic geometric shapes, like this circle.  you can divide it up into different series.   unsurprisingly, the blocks series is my favorite.

Source

Source

Source

great guy to get wallpapers from!!

obviously, I love these paintings.  there's a unique atmosphere created with a high degree of intention and understanding.  these blocks look like they're eroding, melting... you can really feel how temporary and inconsequential they are.  they feel very organic.  typically, you associate bold geometric forms with strength, permanence, some aspect of consistency... but these are nothing like that.  the artist challenges that notion directly.  the world that these shapes exist in is in a constant state of flux and uncertainty.   what is there today, may not be there tomorrow.  when we see these shapes degrading, it exudes a sense of profound nihilism.

even in his bright blue sky-scapes, which are typically associated with "happy" colors, Blocks Guy still  finds a way to convey a sense of melancholy through texture, shape, and color.  just zoom in on those clouds.  those things are NOT happy clouds.  they're freaky, unsettling, and skirt the uncanny. yet, at the same time, they're indisputably beautiful.  the way Blocks Guy maintains this atmosphere is remarkable.

it's also concerning.  I think this dude needs a hug.

Source
look at the composition.  do you see the swirl, almost like a wave?
can you notice the faded circular shapes from his brush?  what the heck is going on with this texture? 
 have you ever actually seen clouds like this?   the more you look at it, the stranger and more alien it gets.  

it reminds me two artists of the 19th century who also created art depicting existentialist themes. American painter Edward Hopper and Swiss multi-media artist Alberto Giacometti.  both expressed a sentiment that life was distant and lonely. incidentally, Hopper is one of my all-time favorite painters.

Office in a Small City, Edward Hopper, 1953
here's a bio of him if you're unfamiliar with his works. 

Walking Man 1, Alberto Giacometti, 1960
here on the last page is a decent description.  tl;dr: this sculpture
is saying that humans are just walking, going nowhere, purpose unclear.

Hopper painted modern American life as a sterile and bleak- you get a feeling of "I'm existing only for the sake of existing."  Giacometti posed the question of ultimate meaning with frail emaciated statues, showing the man, rather than the environment, as apathetic and intangible.  I'd argue that Blocks Guy explores existentialist thought with an pervasive sense of metamorphosis. He contrasts the tangible with the intangible. through it all, there's a sense of futility, but also of hope and beauty...

... and he's doing it with blocks. I think that's super cool.

these paintings would fit right at home in any fine art gallery across the world.  due to Blocks Guy's intentional anonymity, I don't know if they're getting the recognition they deserve.  I know nothing about this person.  Even so, I earnestly hope they find whatever it is they're looking for.

Source

Thank you for making beautiful works!
綺麗な絵を作っているの、ありがとうございました！

PS/disclaimer:
this spotlight only covers Blocks Guy's most recent phase of non-figurative work, a body of around ~140 works.  his gallery is actually way bigger, and has another 160~ paintings, the first of which was posted early 2008.  there is an obvious narrative which sprawled many of the first 160 paintings, which could potentially explain the story behind the landscapes.  Personally, I'm not sure.  it looks like it ended pretty definitively around page painting number 160~.  at any rate, those paintings are also very well done, so if you're interested, check that out.  and let me know if you figure out what the hell this guy is trying to say.