WORLDS APART

JIN XIA & NICOLLE HERRERA

 
 
 

Aged 18, Jin Xia left her hometown in Southeast China to study architecture at Washington University, St. Louis. It was here where she realised her passion for storytelling, and decided to transfer to Communication Design. “The turning point was seeing an illustration by American illustrator Keith Negley”, she told Cluster, “I was deeply touched by the concept and expressive emotions in the image, which got me excited about the power of imagery”. Jin went on to study an MFA in Illustration Practice at Maryland Institute College of Art, which she completed last year. Now, she works as an in-house illustrator and animator for a design-tech company in New York, while taking freelance commissions from time to time.

Harp | 2021

 
 
 

commissioned by Wired magazine

Her work utilises bright, impressionistic colours and unfamiliar landscapes that seem influenced by nature though not strictly representative of it. “In my work, I try to rebuild our familiar environment into an abstract landscape”, she explains, “I wish to use abstraction to capture the essence of an experience.” In this pursuit of essence, Jin’s illustrations evoke the richness of our interior worlds and how they merge with our surroundings both online and off. In one piece, commissioned by Wired magazine, a lone figure roams through a digital space where nature is alluded to by flattened, computerised symbols. “I’m always fascinated by physical and mental space, especially the atmosphere of a place,” she added.

 
 
 
 

Jin starts each piece by sketching in pencil. In the initial research stage, she collects reference images for inspiration. After forming a rough idea, she begins making a series of loose, random textures with ink acrylic and gouache. Only after this process does she scan her work to finalise in Photoshop. Through Cluster, she hopes to meet other artists from various visual cultures and backgrounds. “I’m always inspired to learn about the methods and perspectives of others,” she told us. Right now, Jin is working on a series of monthly illustrations for the John Templeton Foundation, as well as some personal works based on the Taiwanese poet Hsia Yu’s collection Fusion Kitsch.

Basquiat | 2021

 
 
 

Stare all you want | BUY THIS PIECE HERE

 

Columbian artist Nicolle Herrera has been involved in the art world from an early age, always seeking to carve out her own creative path. After initially studying Graphic Design and Motion, she is currently exploring and adapting her work with new means of technology such as AR, VR and XR. Her main source of inspiration is metaphysics, hence her preoccupation with world-building and character design, as well as co-creation, life stories and currently, the ‘phygital’, a concept of using technology to bridge digital and physical worlds.

 
 

Library of sentiment | BUY THIS PIECE HERE

 

Like Jin, her work is characterised by a kaleidoscopic use of colour. While her work makes reference to the genre of sci-fi, her fantastical landscapes shun traditional depictions of space as a dark, unknowable, void, in favour of something far more inviting. “My main motif is ‘lighting the spark of the universe,” she explains, “which sounds cheesy, but it is the mindset of optimism overshadowing pessimism that I’m interested in.” In Nicolle’s rich worlds, possibilities are endless and layered, they can be shaped and reshaped infinitely. Though her characters occupy strange, unknowable lands, they approach them with a sense of adventure, rather than fear; an apt metaphor for the role of the artist, which Nicolle sees as “to provide a sense of world-building, liberty of creation, and to radiate positivity.”

 

The perfect blend | BUY THIS PIECE HERE

 
 
 

Each of her projects is based on a set of visual references, field research or personal investigation and a concept. She generally starts by sketching multiple ideas and then choosing the one she wants to take forward. Next, she begins to consider the colour palette, always with an inclination toward vibrancy. However, her technique varies greatly, from traditional methods like multiliner, gouache, watercolour, pencils to technological ones such as AR, animation and even sound, in order to heighten the work’s sensorial experience. “I’ve never been part of an official creative community before, so I was excited to join Cluster to network and learn more about the industry,” Nicolle told us. Currently, she has been collaborating with models from different countries, on a project called Non-Fungible Humans, which translates photography and personal findings into animation, illustration and AR.

Like Cotton | 2021

 
 
 

Through abstraction and kaleidoscopic use of colour Jin and Nicolle summon worlds that exist in the unmarked in between; where the physical meets the digital and fantasy permeates the real.

 
 

Work by both Jin Xia & Nicolle Herrera can be viewed on the Cluster Illustration platform
and purchased through our Cluster Illustration Online Shop.

Thank you for reading,
Stephanie Gavan & Cluster Team.