Leucism
Ink on Mixed Media Paper, 3″x5″
Even when lacking in pigment, animals radiate immense beauty, strength, and elegance. These high-contrast, achromatic portraits focus on the many faces of wildlife and remove the creatures from any context. Stripped of their colorful hues, the animals remain in shades of black and white, bare and raw before the viewer. Their values, textures, and patterns strongly contrast against the deep black of the background as the stark, white outlines highlight their various forms and shapes. Exposed in the spotlight, each animal bares an almost stoic, echoing expression that fills the void with its personality and spirit. Each quaint portrait boldly embodies the presence of the species it portrays and delicately reveals the vulnerabilities of each individual animal.
In 2017, this series of portraits was released as a NeonMob trading card series. Collecting this trading card series was meant to represent the fleeting sense of the wildlife left in this world as each card was as rare as the animal it depicted. While the most common cards represented species classified as “Least Concern” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, “Endangered” and “Critically Endangered” creatures were reserved for more scarce pulls. Because collectors would constantly pull common species, the discovery of an endangered species was made more fulfilling and interesting, thus bringing more attention to these portraits. The rarest of cards depicted beasts of myths and legends, such as dragons and unicorns, a real treat for dedicated collectors.