Digital Illustration by Greek Artist Charis Tsevis
The African bricks
A series of artworks inspired by the Mandela House in Soweto and other similar matchbox houses in the African townships. Created for an African restaurant in Athens, Greece.
I love Africa! For me it’s a constant source of inspiration and a solid point of reference for my life. I have travelled many times to the continent and I have studied Africa’s culture for long. This is a series of artworks inspired by the everyday African life but to also pay a tribute to Shaka Zulu and the long tradition of Zulus, Ndebele, Xhosa and all tribes of the land. They are created for and African restaurant in Athens.
The basic element I used is the brick. Borrowed directly from the typical matchbox houses in the African townships the brick for me is a symbol of people’s creativity. A symbol of courage to build a safe place for the family. My bricks are sometimes stable and others unstable. And they are filled with other forms of African creativity. Fabrics, art, leather, animal skins.
I have printed these digital files on wood in 8 colours. Collaborating with the great team of Quality Printing Solutions, we have printed in a Swiss Q Impala 2 printer. 7 colours plus white. The white ink is used under some of the bricks in various shades, creating the illusion that the bricks are pieces of paper or metal that are sticked on the wood.
We have added 3 layers of UV on the final artwork adding dimension to the artwork.
You can now purchase limited edition signed and numbered art prints from this series here:
http://shop.tsevis.com/category/the-african-bricks
About Charis Tsevis
He is a Greek visual designer living and working in Pafos, Cyprus.
He holds a Diploma in Graphic Design from the Akademie für das Grafische Gewerbe, München and a Master in Visual Design from the Scuola Politecnica di Design, Milano.
He manages a modest studio on the island of Cyprus serving clients all over the world.
His client list includes companies like Nike, Google, Ferrari, PepsiCo, Toyota and IKEA, advertising agencies like TBWA\Chiat\Day, Saatchi & Saatchi LA, DDB Munich and Leo Burnett Hong Kong and media like Time, Fortune, Wired and the Wall Street Journal.
Charis is a visiting professor of Editorial Design and Typography at the AKTO College in Athens since the year 1996. He has also presented seminars at the Panteion University of Athens and he has given lectures in numerous national and international conferences and symposiums such as the International Conference on Typography and Visual Communication, the TEDx Athens, the Adobe D-Day, the World Design Day and many more.
Charis is often writing articles about design theory, aesthetics and history of computing in some highly respected art and IT magazines in Greece (+design, RAM etc).
He has also written 2 books about Adobe Photoshop.
Charis’ work is awarded in ED Awards (Europe), Epica Awards (Europe), NPSA (USA), Behance (USA), EBGE (Greece) and others. He is named for 4 times in a row as one of the 200 World’s Best Illustrators by Lürzer’s Archive.
Charis’ work has been featured in many books, magazines and websites around the world.
His art work has been presented in exhibitions in Athens, Barcelona, San Jose and other cities around the globe. Since 2016 Lumas is selling series of his art.
You can buy limited edition fine art prints of Charis work on his e-shop.
Gallery
Digital Illustration by Greek Artist Charis Tsevis
Digital Illustration by Greek Artist Charis Tsevis
Digital Illustration by Greek Artist Charis Tsevis
Digital Illustration by Greek Artist Charis Tsevis
Digital Illustration by Greek Artist Charis Tsevis
Digital Illustration by Greek Artist Charis Tsevis
Digital Illustration by Greek Artist Charis Tsevis