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Kozyndan is a Los Angeles-based team of artist/illustrators known for their digitally painted pencil drawings of contemporary urban cityscapes and surreal interior spaces. Comprised of husband and wife Dan and Kozue Kitchens, Kozyndan creates both fine art and commercial projects, and has been showcased internationally to much critical acclaim. The duo met in a painting class in college in the late 90s. They began collaborating and the result has been a series of personal works that often reflect their affection—and repulsion—for the rampant urban sprawl and technological overload characterizing everyday city life. |
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Kozyndan
Kozyndan is a Los Angeles-based team of artist/illustrators known for their digitally painted pencil drawings of contemporary urban cityscapes and surreal interior spaces. Comprised of husband and wife Dan and Kozue Kitchens, Kozyndan creates both fine art and commercial projects, and has been showcased internationally to much critical acclaim.
The duo met in a painting class in college in the late 90s. They began collaborating and the result has been a series of personal works that often reflect their affection—and repulsion—for the rampant urban sprawl and technological overload characterizing everyday city life. Their detailed drawings portray realistic urban panoramas, which on closer inspection, reveal often absurd scenarios. In one, for example, elderly Chinese women, armed only with dim sum, stave off an aerial attack on San Francisco’s Chinatown, while in another, marauding day-glo bunnies take on Manhattan. According to Dan, the pair’s work portrays their “unease with and love of the modern world.”
Koznydan’s other work includes album covers for Weezer, John Mayer, Daedelus, Lyrics Born and the Postal Service, as well as magazine illustrations for Colors, Tokion, Relax, Giant Robot and XLR8R, among others. They’ve also done commercial projects for RES Fest, Electronic Arts, Converse, Nike, Wieden+Kennedy and Idn, and they’ve produced an array of products featuring their artwork, including posters, books (their first, Urban Myths, was recently published by early supporters Giant Robot) and t-shirts. The couple has also exhibited work in galleries and museums from Los Angeles to Toronto, London and Australia.
Physically residing in Los Angeles, and mentally in one another’s subconscious, Kozyndan are youngish husband-and-wife illustrators/artists who work collaboratively on nearly every project they do. They spend much of their time, though, on their own projects, selling prints of their personal pieces, among other things, online and in select stores around the world. They released their first book, Urban Myths—a collection of their work from their first year and a half, published by Giant Robot.
In a world of increasing chaos, they strive to make art that will bring a little smile to someone’s face and make people forget, if only momentarily, the world outside. They make complex works that will have you discovering little details you never saw before, months after you purchase a print. The images are grounded firmly in the real world but things are slightly askew—salmon swim up a street, robots shop, apples protest vegetarianism, Chinese grandmas lob dumplings at happy SARS viruses and cartoon animals engage in every manner of lovely sex acts.
Basically—Kozyndan gives you good things.
