Mastering the Dark Arts - Yiiokii Collapses Creativity into Itself
Born and raised in Montreal, Sam, better known as Yiiokii, is an artist, creative director, and conjurer of maleficent visuals through his work.
The talent destroys and reconstructs different mediums, merging photography with a variety of analog textures to create new characters that are host to his imagined worlds. Being just 24, the mind of Yiiokii is vast and as he continues to fester his multiverse of dark creativity, we can’t help but watch with a keen eye.
Yiiokaii cleverly takes perfectly styled photographic subjects and reimagines them through his own lens. By adding his many layers of turbulent creativity in post-digital editing, the final form of his characters becomes a snarling apparition of the original; crawling onto the page and bleeding throughout the canvas, his work is immersive, captivating, and emotive, offering otherworldly imagination whilst also staying grounded enough for it to still be relatable.
Inspired by the work of Tsutomu Nihei's manga "Blame!", as well as being a big fan of HR Giger's Necronomicon and the universe of Warhammer 40k, it’s clear to see nuanced influences come through in his work. From the streaking and erratic tendrils of chaos found in Blame! to the characters of Warhammer 40k, Yiiokii applies these design principles yet funnels them through his concise vision ensuring originality and creative exploration.
Working originally as a freelance photographer and 3D artist, Yiiokii found a passion for Japanese animation and this altered his perception of art. After becoming more in tune with mixed media, he made the switch and envisioned a way to melt together all his past experiences.
Craving creative exploration due to the lack of internet access during his childhood, the visionary now makes up for lost time. From using destroyed polaroids, paints, scans, and digital editing, Yiiokii is creating a multiverse of creativity collapsing into itself like a black hole.
