Featured Artist: Ninhol

The Brazilian artist Ninhol uses clean simple line art to express unusual and surreal themes; he shows that beauty and intricacy can be found in even the most unassuming styles. The detailed lines — a balance between classic black and white, as well as a more colorful palette — is both subtle and bold at the same time.

Ninhol admits that he can often “obsess about things” and he can find himself in a “frantic process of drawing everything” that he sees around him. However — although he puts everything he imagines down on paper — he tries to filter out which projects he focuses his time on. He always feels he “could have changed something” in his art, but he’s since learned that there comes a point where he must simply “stop working on something” and move on to the next project.

He understands that his biggest challenge is trying to “set the boundaries” between his work and personal life. He confesses that because he is on the autism spectrum, he must be ever mindful of how he approaches both work and pleasure. His work can be exhausting because every project “has a bit of my true self in it” but he’s learned to keep his two worlds separate and to make time for hobbies, likes sports.

Ninhol shares that if his art were edible it would be a staple of our diet like “coffee and bread.” Although his style may not appear fancy or exotic, it is a simple pleasure that people can find joy and comfort in. He loves the idea that he has been able to “reach people all across the world with my work” which was something he never thought possible. He hopes his work is both accessible and able to be enjoyed by everyone.