Hyper-Realistic Illustrations by Yanni Floros

Yanni Floros is an Adelaide, Australia based artist who trained at the National Art School in Sydney where he graduated as a sculpture major… but that’s far from where his talent stops. His work moves seamlessly between painting, sculpting and drawing, while his focus remains steady on the pursuits of man and how those pursuits impact our development. While he is obviously on his way to mastering these skills, there is one important thing to point out about this series: these are charcoal illustrations, not photographs.

When I first came across these charcoal illustrations, I seriously thought I had just stumbled upon some minimalist photography — which is dope as well — cute girls with headphones on, bobbing their heads to some fly beats. Then I read that they were done in charcoal. I Pinned these “charcoal” illustrations to my Pinterest account, and quickly learned that I wasn’t alone. Others had hastily made the same assumption and posted the images to their photography boards — it just goes to show how insanely talented Floros’ illustrations really are. (continued below)

Floros has always been interested in technology, the design of things and how they’re put together. But, he says it goes deeper than that. When he views humanity as a whole, he has to ask ‘what is it about us that wants to make all this?’ That question affords him the ability to examine not only the ‘why’ but also the final product.

“As we hurtle towards an unknown and uncertain future, technology and the way we use it will become increasingly more important,” he says. “It has already become so integrated into our lives that I doubt many of us could live without it. As we build more and invent more, are we helping our humanity or are we robbing ourselves of it?”

Check out more of his work below, and if your happen to be in Australia during April, check out his solo show at the Lethbridge Gallery.

via: Digital Temple & Yanni Floros