Artist a Day: Rico Gaston

I love the graphic design elements in Rico Gaston’s paintings. My favorites include an ongoing series that marries collage and colored pencil on paper in images that radiate off the page. The black and white images of musicians, writers, entertainers, and activists are augmented by bold, colorful lines that amplify the subject’s energy. Gaston’s work embraces the less is more ethos of Bauhaus and maximizes the image’s impact through line and color.

With the visual impact of graphic design, Rico Gaston combines archival black and white photos with punchy, rainbow-colored lines that radiate energy and emphasis on the subject’s raison d’etre.