KAFKA, figures and life
Our drawings are visual narratives that explore the human condition in all of its complexity, fragility, grandeur, horror, absurdity, comedy, and beauty. Many of Rowan's drawings are based on stories written by Franz Kafka, a 20th century German-language novelist who elucidates the nature and motivations of human beings in captivating and psychologically incisive stories.
"Composite photorealism" is what Rowan calls the artistic style that permits him to tell fictional or nonfictional stories in the clearest, most precise and dramatically compelling way. Instead of drawing from an individual photograph to make his work, as the majority of photorealists do, he draws from a multitude of photographs which he integrates into a purely invented figurative image, permitting the style of photorealism to merge freely with imagination. This composite photorealistic style empowers the imagination because it has the capacity to convey meanings and messages beyond those in any individual photograph, and to create new and convincing realities.