“I will fight through with a single ballpoint pen,” says Jun Suzuki (born 1991, Japan), whose brisk attitude is like that of a vigorous samurai with his sword in hand. Since he launched his career as an artist in his early twenties, winning prizes in competitions, participating in miniature drawing exhibitions, and holding a solo exhibition in 2020, he has been actively expanding his sphere.

As Suzuki’s father is a potter and his mother is a ceramic painter, he was always familiar with art from his childhood, and naturally, he started to draw. It was during his junior high school years that he had a shocking encounter. Fascinated by Katsuhiro Otomo’s manga AKIRA and the delicately yet boldly pen-drawn fine lines, he began to copy and study them. He says that he was also influenced by Western music album covers and art posters of the 60s and 70s. His training days are evident in the intricately drawn various designs and his excellent screen composition and sense of balance.

He works mainly with Kent paper and ballpoint pens. He never stops exploring with it, not only by drawing intricate lines and dots but also by experimenting with cutting and pasting on a separate paper to broaden his work scope. He expresses large-scaled themes such as love, the energy of life, other dimensions, and life and death in both familiar and unexpected art. His journey to master the art of ballpoint pen drawing, in which life dwells, continues as he condenses his own life into his paintings and connects with the audience at heart.

For more information about the artist, click here.