Read Between the Lines
The Sharp Lines of Vadim Sloof
Vadim Sloof is a Russian graphic designer and illustrator, who creates emotive abstract line art paintings and drawings inspired by his love of graffiti art, fashion, ’90s music and classic painters. Using bright, flat colors, shapes and flowing lines, Vadim creates contemporary art that expresses movement and emotion, while proving there is power in simplicity.
How did you come to be an artist?
I’ve been working as a graphic designer and illustrator for a long time. I’ve also been doing graffiti since 1999. Through graffiti, I came into my professional work and into art.
How did you develop your style?
I always found characters were more interesting to draw than letter works, maybe because I found them easier to draw! I started by drawing characters from the classic hip-hop era, and slowly but surely, I eventually found my own style, which I’m currently developing.
How would you define your current style?
Now I can characterize it as something between figurative drawings and abstractive lines, because the way lines interact with each other is often more important than a single image.
What inspires Vadim Sloof work?
My style is inspired by classic graffiti, early street artworks, English casual fashion and music in the ’90s, as well as some classic painters, such as Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt, Amedeo Modigliani, Pablo Picasso, Burial, Aitor Throup, Cédric Honet and Anthony Lister.
What mediums do you prefer to work in?
Drawings on canvases and walls, and digital creations. The most important thing for me is to make it all look alike, so it doesn’t matter which medium I use.
How does erotica inspire your work?
I think it’s something I took from classic painters. To me, the human body is one of the most exciting things. Often there is no sexual context in my works, just pure beauty of lines created by nature.
What are you working on at the moment?
Right now, I’m preparing for a big solo show, which will be in my hometown later this year.
We had to do some minor modifications to the original dimensions (and a teeny-tiny bit of content) in Vadim Sloof’s work in order to pass guidelines and get it to display properly in our site. That said, you can find this unique artist in all the typical unique artist places like Instagram, Twitter, and even the upper echelon Behance. … Not feeling particularly qualified to be judging art on its pure merits, we will say that while many people — many of them elected to public office — see angles where most of us see curves, it takes a real artist to make the interpretation beautiful. (As far as we know, this category does not include anyone elected to public office, in case you were curious.)
