The topical, clever, fleeting art of Nelson illustrator Pete Ryan - Nelson Star

He’s a 3D and 2D illustrator, a musician, a storyboard artist with a background in the television animation industry for many years – he’s even contributed to the storyboards of Pixar’s newest furry flick Hoppers and the Cartoon Network show We Bare Bears. What can Louie Zong not do? Even when faced with the pandemic, the illustrator found a way to reinvent his whimsical style, learning Blender and using the program to exercise ideas within tightly controlled compositions, lighting conditions and countless polygons. The result is some of the coolest illustrations around, prompting some to hope that Pixar’s next movies look more like Louie’s signature style. Louie believes that having a diverse range of influences in art, books, music and general life is key to a fulfilling and interesting art practice – you must live with one foot in the present and the other in the past, always drawing references and creating visual cookie-crumb trails throughout his work.

It’s a provocative and discursive exploration of how artists respond to our late-capitalist epoch, but its focus on “rupture” raises questions. Detail of Wen Liu, "In Light, Where Edges Yield" (2025), prescribed herbal medicine, epoxy clay, resin, acrylic, varnish, stainless steel (photo Rebecca Tisdelle-Macias, courtesy Toronto Biennial of Art; all other photos Neil Price/Hyperallergic)