From the atmospheric tones of the Pacific Northwest to Victorian-era textile patterns to antique dishware designs, Rebecca Zwanzig—the artist behind High West Wild—draws on a wide range of influences. “I grew up in the bluegrass state of Kentucky, and some of my earliest visual memories come from going to auctions and estate sales with my grandma in rural Kentucky,” the artist tells Colossal. “I was always drawn to the patterns on old plates, the embroidery on tablecloths, vintage textiles, and all of these little objects and keepsakes that had clearly belonged to someone and had a life before they ended up there.”
Currently based in Portland, Oregon, by way of Washington’s mountains and Nevada’s desert, the artist draws on this nostalgia in her digital works. Reminiscent of late 19th and early 20th-century motifs, her botanicals emerge from associations with landscapes she has lived in and influences from the not-so-distant past.
“I’ve always loved vintage textiles and illustration, scientific botanical art, folk art, and the groovy typography and design from the ’60s and ’70s,” Zwanzig says. “My colors tend to come from that same place, too. Lots of earthy 1970s tones…I love anything dark and moody, but I also love really bright, saturated color, so I tend to move between the two.”
Zwanzig’s illustrations often incorporate symmetry and the satisfying repetition of patterns, evoking Art Nouveau and the Arts and Crafts Movement exemplified by the likes of William Morris. Portraits of insects, crystals, and shells, and other natural phenomena also bring to mind natural history tomes such as Lorenz Oken’s Allgemaine Naturgeschichte Für Alle Stände or The Hudson Transparencies.
Her practice developed around early interests in graphic design and oil painting, which she still turns to occasionally to explore the texture of the analog medium. Even her digital pieces created in Procreate or Adobe Illustrator are derived from sketches she first makes by hand to compose lush gradients we associate with oil.
Clients including Starbucks, Marine Layer, Anna Sui, Free People, and more have licensed Zwanzig’s work, and she’s currently in the midst of a personal project of designing a complete tarot deck. If you’re in Seattle next month, you can see Zwanzig’s work at the Renegade Craft Fair, which runs from November 20 to 22. Follow updates and see more from her on the High West Wild Instagram.
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