Kenichi Kuromaru on finding unique expression in optical illusions, simple shapes and mixing alphabets

When Kenichi Kuromaru was a student, there was one graphic artist that particularly struck a chord with him: Shigeo Fukuda. Admiring his work for its ability to trick the eye of the viewer, Kenichi also admired its simplicity; the ease of expression in Fukuda’s work achieved with only a few outlines and vague shapes. It’s easy to see how Fukuda’s work has inspired that of Kuromaru’s, who's part of the collective homesickdesign LCC. The various objects featured throughout his work range from those which are instantly recognisable – a chair, a pepper mill – to ones that take a second longer to decipher, such as the shape of a swan which emerges from a seemingly abstract graphic.

Another key facet of Kuromaru’s practice is playing with linguistic forms – “one of my favourite expressions is mixing Japanese letters with the Roman alphabet”, he shares. This approach comes across in his poster for the Iwate ADC exhibition. Wrapping both Japanese lettering and Roman text around bulbous shapes, not only does the text transmit information, the differing forms and styles of the texts create a pleasing, variable pattern.