The artists
The studio works with a small group of painters rather than a single artist. The core of the zodiac and miniature series comes from one painter who trained in both Western and Chinese ink-painting traditions — which explains the graphic outline work in the zodiac series and the close observational quality of the miniatures. The abstract colour studies are the work of a second painter whose background is in printmaking; the layering and texture in those pieces comes directly from that background.
We don't make a big deal of individual attribution in the studio because the pieces are priced as craft work, not signed-artist work. That said, if you buy a painting and want to know more about who made it and how, write to us and we'll tell you everything.
What we are not
We are not a print shop. Nothing in this studio is reproduced. We are not a gallery representing artists and taking a commission cut. The prices you see are the prices the painter sets, sold direct. We are not a mass manufacturer: there is no factory, no print run, no edition of fifty.
We are also not trying to be a prestige brand. The packaging is plain. The website is simple. The prices are honest. If you want something framed in a gallery with a white-glove shipping experience and a certificate of authenticity on heavy paper stock, there are studios that do that well. We are not one of them. We'd rather get paintings onto walls that need them.
The zodiac series, specifically
People ask about the Chinese zodiac work more than anything else we make, so it's worth saying a little more about it. The series came from a genuine interest in the iconography — not as a marketing category, but as a visual tradition that is extremely rich and almost completely absent from the Western contemporary art market. The twelve animals have been painted for centuries in Chinese folk art and court painting; there are conventions about posture, color, and symbolic detail that are interesting to work with and against.
Our versions are not traditional paintings and don't claim to be. They borrow the graphic clarity of folk-art representations and apply it with contemporary acrylic techniques — bold flat fields, strong outlines, occasional gold leaf. People buy them because they were born in the year of a particular animal, or because they want to give a painting as a gift to someone who was. That's a fine reason to buy a painting.
Commission work
We take a small number of commissions each month. Common requests: a zodiac animal in a colorway that matches a specific room, a miniature of a subject that isn't in the current gallery (a pet, a building, a plant from someone's garden), or an abstract in exact dimensions for a specific wall. Email [email protected] with what you have in mind. We'll tell you honestly whether it's something we can do well and what the timeline and price look like.
Say hello
Questions about a specific piece, shipping, commissions, or just curiosity about the studio — email us at [email protected]. We read every message and respond to all of them.
