"ABSURD WORLD! GRADIENTS" is a colored pencil and pastel exploration of my personal journey in dealing with the dissonance between the mental friction and freedom one experiences from living in a world that is absurd and inherently meaningless. Drawing inspiration from the existentialist and absurdist philosophies of Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, I sought to find my own justification for existing without external pressure.
To create this body of work, I first developed a lexicon of personal symbolism and organized color palettes that work well as gradients. I then sketched collages inspired by this lexicon, which I drew on larger pastel paper using colored pencil and pastel. The resulting pieces are meant to resonate with anyone who enjoys metaphorical and symbolic work and is working through their own struggle with living in absurdity.
About the Artist:
Tamara Turner is an illustrator who focuses on editorial illustration and visual storytelling. She combines character-based storytelling with chalky shapes and attention-grabbing color palettes to create contemporary artworks that explore the human condition; her illustrations have been featured in a variety of publications.
