Graphic accompaniment to a feature in Tokion magazine on the band The Bees

About / Biographic Information:

Jackson Tan co-founded Phunk Studio in Singapore in 1994 with three fellow graduates from LaSalle College of the Arts. Describing themselves as "information junkies/creatives," the collective draws from a wide variety of influences including Chinese heritage, British colonial history, Japanese anime, and American pop culture. Tan describes their work as a "bold and direct" style with a "unique sense of street-level humour" that reflects a new, extended community of design and art.

This specific graphic was created in 2002 for the magazine Tokion to accompany a feature on the musical group The Bees.

Description:

The illustration features two human silhouettes entirely composed of densely layered, hand-drawn bees. In the center, three large Chinese characters are displayed vertically. The work exemplifies Phunk Studio's approach of blending different cultural languages and "playing around" with provocative, non-standard formats to arouse the audience. The visual style is rooted in the collective's philosophy of "street-level humor" and the blending of multi-national influences.