Ok, so it doesn't have the same alliterative ring as last time around, but Moscow-based artist Sicksystems is yet another creative who knows his way around a piece of plywood. Over the course of the past decade, he's expanded his practice from graffiti to graphic design, typography and illustration, refining his aesthetic without compromising his artistic integrity (not unlike Matt W. Moore... who, incidentally, spent a few months in Moscow this summer).
Sicksystems synthesizes elements of cubism, constructivism and futurism—i.e. vector art—in semi-sculptural works of art. His work isn't as overt as that of, say, A.J. Fosik, but that's precisely the point: the work elicits the curious effect of seeing vector shapes with actual edges.
His latest project is a "Sneaker Head," so to speak: a cross between a Nike Air Force 1 Duckboot and a wolf's head, executed as a painted plywood artwork for the Nike Store in his hometown.
While affordable laser-cutters certainly offer a shortcut to translating vector images to physical media, Sicksystems sticks to a more traditional technique: "First, I made vector images based on my sketches; carved all the details out of plywood using a scroll saw; then sandpapered and smoothed them. And finally I painted all the pieces and glued them together."
