FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Entertainment

These Photorealistic Drawings Perfectly Capture Isolation and Grief

Miami artist Ashley Oubré has a powerful message about sadness.
Suffering and Transcendence, Graphite, ink and charcoal on paper, 44 x 84 inches, 2015. Images courtesy the artist

Exquisite photorealism is only half the story with Miami artist Ashley Oubré's stunning greyscale illustrations, often of nude figures lying prostrate or face down on the ground, picture-perfect images of loneliness, abandonment, and grief. By layering graphite powder and India ink meticulously one after the other, she captures the little details that bring the sadness of her subjects to fruition. The bags under a young child's eyes. The discomfort evident in an older woman's hunched spine. Each person is an island, fading into an ocean of white.

Advertisement

This metaphor is furthered in her Jellyfish series, a translation of humanity's emptiness into the isolated, stagnant lives of the titular sea creatures. Rather than a metaphorical ocean of white, these jellies navigate a literal one. And yet, like their human counterparts, there is undeniable beauty in these lonely life forms. Both series seem to ask, begging for an answer, "Is the beauty of living worth the sadness of being alone?"

Jellyfish series, Graphite, india ink and carbon on paper 11 x 14 inches, each 2015

Aquatic dream, Graphite, india ink and carbon on paper, 44 x 60 inches, 2015

Agony I, Graphite ink and carbon on paper, 44 x 60 inches, Private collection, 2015

Agony II, Graphite, ink and carbon on paper, 44 x 60 inches, Private collection, 2015

Yosra, Graphite, ink and carbon on paper, 22 x 30 inches, Private collection, 2014

Soliloquy, Graphite, ink and carbon on paper 22 x 30 inches, 2015

Defeat, Graphite, ink and carbon on paper 22 x 30 inches, 2015

Nehr (study of an Eric Nehr), Graphite and carbon on paper, 14 x 11 inches, 2013

Untitled, Graphite and ink on paper, 11 x 14 inches, 2015

Drowning 1 + 2, Graphite, ink and carbon on paper, 24 x 24 inches, each, Private collection, 2014

Simone at Sea Graphite, ink and charcoal on paper 18 x 18 inches, each 2016

See more of Oubré's work on her website, and her cheerier side on Instagram.

Share your awesome project with us at editor@thecreatorsproject.com.

Related:

'From Here to Eternity' Drawings Kiss Censorship Goodbye

Custom Instrument Turns Black-and-White Drawings into Sound

Typewriter Drawings Turn Photos into Distorted Portraits