Evelet of The Lost Kids 

Curator: Stanley Artgerm Lau's work, tentatively titled "Evelet of the Lost Kids," certainly grabs your attention. What's your first impression? Editor: The sunset colors definitely evoke a sense of adventure and perhaps a little bit of peril. The confident, almost defiant, look in the character's eyes gives a strong focal point. Curator: The way he renders the figure with such detailed linework is something I find interesting. Even without firm information about its date of creation or medium, one can appreciate how this evokes character illustrations created for various fantasy games and stories, perhaps those with a strong child-hero angle? Editor: Considering it appears digital, how much do you think its creation plays into the existing structures of fandom, character design for gaming, and so forth? We're obviously not looking at a fresco transferred from a monastery wall here. It plays within a very specific visual culture. Curator: Absolutely. And, you have to ask about the consumption of this work, too. The availability of tablets and digital painting software impacts artists. Is this being produced as part of an exploitative labour pipeline, where individual artist recognition becomes erased as artwork contributes to media conglomerates? The material is both very high tech but also speaks to an age-old set of ideas about how art is commodified and who the artist truly is. Editor: That definitely makes me think of its wider dissemination on platforms like DeviantArt. Artgerm really understands the game there, cultivating a substantial online presence and a very loyal audience. This also brings us back to the tradition of pinups in popular media: strong and somewhat independent, like a pop-inflected descendant of illustrations by Gil Elvgren or Alberto Vargas but specifically catered to contemporary tastes. Curator: So the social aspects of art intersecting with art production technologies is really at play here, yes? A work that seemingly centers a brave youth actually reveals a sophisticated apparatus through which this image has traveled through our screens. I think the next person visiting this work might take away a bit more awareness of these types of details in illustrations they are drawn to. Editor: And maybe contemplate her historical role in the wider lineage of fantasy archetypes, who are always at war with some darkness or evil, as their individual narratives are interwoven with the social realities that sustain these narratives. A worthwhile journey indeed.