Ben Yin Pan Kwok, a.k.a BioWorkZ, has been distributing his work through YouWorkForThem for many years and brands like Converse, Red Bull, Lucky Brand and Ed Hardy are regular customers of his illustrations. Ben takes his alias from the term “biomechanical,” as the Swiss surrealist H.R. Giger’s signature style was known. From the flowing curves of the lines, often creating intricate spirals and spindles, to the frequent juxtaposition of “natural” shapes with more “industrial” patterns, Giger’s influence on BioWorkZ is clear.
Yet it is also BioWorkZ’s pursuit of crisp, detail-oriented art which reminds the viewer of Giger. Speaking of his productive process, Ben says, “I love complex, hyper-detailed artwork. To lose myself into the ‘flow’ of drawing is about as good as it gets.” This allows him to create artworks which “pull the viewer in and hold them hostage:”
I want the image to be initially striking, and when the viewer gets up close and personal, I want the image to unfold into greater details while the viewer absorbs the intricacies and attention to little details.
As many Giger aficionados might relate with, Ben has done a great deal of tattoo work, which informs and inspires his illustrative productions. Crisp monochromatic renderings, often featuring a bold black, allow his intricate lines to “pop” when displayed on any background. And as you can see in our catalog of his work, the brilliant lines can be recolored with a high-contrast gradient or set against any solid-color background to achieve a truly striking and complex effect.
BioWorkZ’s Botanicals 11 series, a stock art set full of 25 elegant and beautiful drawings of tropical flowers, trees, leaves and plants, shows off how the mixing and matching of his different illustrations can come together to create a unique scene. Note how well the stock black of the drawings can be recolored to create a throwback 1980s, retro style.
His ten mind-numbing drawings in the series Various Scribbles, on the other hand, show off just how dedicated and detailed his line work can get. The time required to produce the thousands of lines and dots that goes into each of these images, and the complex whole they create simply boggles the mind. Every nook and cranny in each image differs slightly in form and texture, and the end result is truly striking.
One example of Ben’s tattoo-inspired work is the series Skullz 08, which combines many different styles and textures to play off of classic skull tattoo imagery. Each different angle and accenting feature produces a uniquely interesting image and, as the composite shows, these images can be combined to create a unique aesthetic. Other tattoo-like illustration sets include Flourishes 37, with its strong central shapes and feathery edges, as well as Mehndi 02 with its reproduction of the elaborate henna tattoo style.
We are thrilled that BioWorkZ, aka Ben Yin Pan Kwok has been working with us for so long, and we are excited to see what new work he has in store for us and for you.
