Kelly Vivanco

Through the study of the Visual Exploration project, relating visual concepts to poetry, it reminded me of the theme of wonder, existentialism and the aspect of creativity.
When looking into artists that withhold such themes, I came across Kelly Vivanco, an illustrator and graphic designer who features her illustrations around the theme of wonder. Each of her characters' features reflects such wonder, confusion and dubious nature, something she also symbolises through her work.
 Alike to Blake's use of symbolism in the poem 'The Tyger' Vivanco also uses symbolism in her pieces, as most of the wonder contributed in her pieces is sourced by a theme of travel, with the houses depicting the characters taking their home and birth right with them, easily shown in the portrait of a boy with a house backpack design.

In addition to this, the characters always depict an unknown identity and make the viewers wonder who these people are, and why they have ventured out in alternate lands, this also links back to the poem, as the poet William Blake often questions the higher power who created the tiger and lamb, and how that could be so.

Vivanco prides her pieces as being a venture into the unknown, with an air of mystery surrounding them and the characters in them. The composition of which the characters are sat or posed also shows insecurity and tension for both the artist and the viewer, such as the character looking at something in the distance that the viewer can't see, or staring down at something, allowing the viewer to make their own minds up about what is there and why.