BIOWORKZの通り名で知られるアーティストのベン・クウォックはカリフォルニア州を拠点に活動するアーティスト。繊細で緻密な点描画のような手法で描く作品で知られ、タトゥデザインやグラミー賞受賞のロックバンド、パール・ジャムのポスターアートを手がけるなど活動の幅は多岐にわたる。野生動物の迫力や美しさ、骨格や筋肉などから受ける生体構造や機能性をインスピレーションに「より繊細かつダイナミックに描く」ことを意識しているという。今作では2018年の干支である「戌」をテーマに世界的に人気を集める日本犬「芝犬」を描いた。
The illustration for January was done by BIOWORKZ, a.k.a. Ben Kwok, from Southern California. Ben is a graphic artist and illustrator who was born in Taiwan and raised in Los Angeles. He loves complex, hyper detailed artwork, giving way to rendered, polished illustrations. He noted about his illustration and Tokyo, “I’ve always wanted to draw all 12 animals of the Chinese Zodiac, so this project had extra meaning for me. I have immense respect for Japanese culture. Things that come out of Japan are usually of the highest quality because Japanese people care about how things are made and pay attention to all the details. They take pride in the work they produce. Tokyo is definitely one of the places I would love to visit one day. So much to see and so much culture to absorb”.
