You know you’ve come across something seriously good when it possesses the ability to transport you to another time and place. This is what artist Annu Kilpeläinen does through each and every one of her works. Her bold and graphic illustrations enthralling anyone who views them to wish they were laying in a bed of vibrant tulips with your parents’ trusty old volvo nearby, able to whisk you to the nearest beach on a hot summer’s day.

Whilst she now lives in London, Kilpeläinen was born and raised in Finland. Growing up surrounded by landscapes of snow and now a typically grey city, one could assume her work would emulate this, yet her illustrations are anything but gloomy. Instead her work is filled with rainbows of colour that pervade the senses like a warm tropical breeze. Bright florals, tanned legs, high cut bikinis and exploding champagne bottles; emblems of summer days you never quite had but see through her work like fond, sumptuously vivid memories.

Predominantly using Posca pens and acrylic paints, Kilpeläinen’s illustrations are filled with thick areas of colour and blocks of pigments that create a lush, bright world despite the flatness and rejection of modelling within her works. It comes as no surprise that some of her artistic inspirations include David Hockney, Yayoi Kusama, Ken Done and Shirley Jaffe.

Kilpeläinen’s illustrations overflow with energy and poolside vibes. She sure knows how to make us pine for the summer heat and the crush of cool saltwater upon sandy skin.

http://www.annukil.bigcartel.com/

Words / Sarina Meuleman