Esprit de Corps, 2023 Oil on canvas

What comes to your mind when you see a painting for the first time? What emotions do you feel when you watch a certain art piece float on your screen, museum, or gallery? Do you ask yourself – if you like it, if it resonates with you or it is something entirely different? For me, losing myself in the tapestry of images, I wonder how someone could possess enough creativity to come up with something so fantastical. Like the nature of rhymes entangled in a world filled with pregnant landscapes. Take them as animations which took hours to complete, you admire the concept, systematic construction, and whimsical abstractions. In the end, you will find yourself curious about the situations of his entangled characters. Such happens when you stare at Zachary Lank’s oil paintings.

Born and raised in Maryland, Lank has always been interested in the arts. Copying illustrations out of old encyclopedias, books on dinosaurs, and the leaflets from the aquarium, he was always fascinated with anything worth drawing. When the stage of life that required se- seriousness approached, Lank became more dedicated to his craft. Now he creates works with a wide spectrum of colours, depicting intricately beautiful scenes and figures he conjures. Looking beyond the fine nature of each work, Lank says his art speaks to an audience who feel there is something deeply amiss with the world. They conjure a mixture of humour and fear or pity, then the understanding that you’re not so different from what you observe.

Everything begins with an idea. And it may be something we are familiar with. The characters and scenes may seem fresh to the eyes, but the feelings and situations they evoke are vaguely familiar. Although allegorical, his stories may be reimagined from our past – depends on who’s looking- which remained a turning point in our present. They determine how the world will develop and how we can understand our place in it. These depictions of human situations are equally a depiction of the entangled nature of man.

Lank is a true creative, finding ways to explore imaginary realms with a delightful sense of humor.

Read full Interview in our Issue 8