Colorado University - Boulder graduate Ethan Robert is a professional artist based in Chicago, Illinois, currently working as a freelance artist.

 

My artwork revolves around themes that surprise us, themes considered taboo. What subjects do we ignore to make each other more comfortable on an everyday basis? What ideas do we not vocalize with those around us so that we can have a comfortable conversation? What is the elephant in the room? My portfolio contains work that I have completed throughout my time at the University of Colorado - Boulder and as a professional illustrator. Ink illustration and inking techniques are the best mediums to allow me to portray images and my narratives to audiences. I have been working with the medium since childhood, as comic books and graphic novels were a main source of entertainment. I plan to master the medium in the future. Some of my influences include the American Underground Comix scene of the 1970s with artists such as Robert Crumb, Kim Deitch, and Larry Welz. These artists have provided inspirational work that affiliates with my themes such as loneliness, sexual exploration, and the male ego. Other well-known portrait artists such as John Singer Sargent and Egon Schiele have also been incredible influences, providing me with a focus on technical ability in my work. This combination of depraved imagery and fine art techniques creates both a juxtaposition and contrast that asks the viewer to listen, both to technique and my rhetoric.