Ian Stevenson’s head is stuffed with figures and characters like a little boy’s bedroom. Hailing from Leicestershire, England, he has left a solid impression on many a playful mind. Impressive; in times of a billion impressions a day, his work just seems to stick. Everyone is an artist these days, so it’s refreshing to see one amongst the millions that makes me go ‘wow’.

Ian Stevenson first drew my attention when I laid my eyes on his ‘tagging’. Not content with plain canvases and bare walls, Ian found an alternative and eye catching space in the streets; he started to paint on people’s garbage. He made fridges, gas tanks and cardboard boxes come to life. Who can get upset by someone painting on something you got rid off? And in turn it gave the rubbish collector and others on the street a laugh. One of my favourite bits was later, the disposable coffee cups with a drawn on little face growling ‘rubbish’.

Ian also created Lost Heroes, a series of characters that who live in the shadow of never having made it big in the world of animation. The characters resemble famous animated figures from major studios, who names we won’t mention. The Lost Heroes have been through enough, and we don’t want to hurt their feelings.

Monsieur Stevenson’s drawings are simple, provocative and funny as hell; it’s obvious he’s having fun doing what he’s doing. He’s spun into the spotlight and has managed to get himself on the payroll for more than a few prominent - yet very diverse - companies. His rather large client list is steadily growing and I imagine he is invited to participate in exhibitions every 5 minutes. Some of the lovely people that have commissioned his work include Carhartt, MTV, Perrier, London Transport and Paul Smith as well as those crazy fools at Jackass. So you can imagine when we asked him to do a few bits, bobs and odd ends for us we were quite humbled that he would bother to take the time. Totally awesome Ian! - Bitchslap

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