The ultimate purpose of any graphic artist should not be to become a phenomenon on Instagram. Well, maybe so, because of the times we’re in, and, if you’re a graphic designer who’s not big on Instagram, you practically don’t exist. But the idea isn’t to be big on Instagram at any price (in other words: by liberally posting sponsored posts), but to be so in order for your work to become purely iconic. Becoming a phenomenon because, by just taking one look, anyone could recognise your work as yours. Your signature style. Your imagery.
STEVEN HARRINGTON
Steven Harrington has visual imagery that is fully recognisable, in which Keith Haring, Kaws and Takashi Murakami’s styles seem to mix. It’s no wonder then to see why he’s killing it on Instagram and that brands like Nike, Nixon, Converse and even Ikea are knocking on his door. What is the X factor that has led the art world to identify Harrington as the next big thing?
Steven Harrington can brag about both things: being big on Instagram (to this day, he has over 184k followers) and having a fully recognisable signature style that lives up to other graphic artists of our time. You could say that his work takes inspiration from street murals and the ever-redeemable Keith Haring, with whom he shares an affinity for large canvases filled with characters who appear to be celebrating some kind of hedonist party. But, at the same time, Haring’s minimal design disappears and that kind of perversion towards pop iconography that is so well done by other artists like, for example, Kaws, appears. Everything’s filtered through colourful psychedelia that isn’t too far away from Takashi Murakami.
No matter how, and just like with many other artists from the 21st-century, the fact that he’s big on Instagram with an incredibly personal signature style, has brought the world of fashion to Steven Harrington’s door. His relationship with Nike couldn’t be more loyal, as the label of the swoosh doesn’t only provide him with continuous collaborations in the shape of limited edition sneakers, but Nike has also offered itself as partner in crime, involved in 50% of Harrington’s first big exhibition, Magic Hour, that has been inaugurated in Los Angeles in this month of April.
However, even though Nike is the brand that has been able to best understand Harrington, it still hasn’t been the only one. Recently, Steven has realised a series of watches for Nixon with Mickey Mouse as a star and icon. He has collaborated with brands like, BAPE, KITH, Converse, Coachella, Sonos and even Ikea, for whom he made an ensemble of illustrations that lacked any colour but that were still a thousand per cent Harrington. And, again just like with Kaws, the artist has started to experiment with maximalist sculptures, especially with the renowned Gotcha, in which two intertwined palm trees have trapped a character that seems to have come out of a Jim Woording comic.
Is Kaws’ work the example to follow or to even surpass? Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves: he would have to surpass the 1.9m followers mark that Kaws has on Instagram. But we have to admit that Steven Harrington is on the right track.
