Sakiroo (Choi Sang Hyun) — Seoul, South Korea

“I don’t specifically think about the Pop genre while creating my work. I simply wanted to create images that could be easily consumed by people. It’s about re-interpreting familiar things to provide a new kind of fun, and I find this approach enjoyable myself. For art to become more popular, it needs to be fun and light-hearted. To me, Pop is about approaching the public in a way that can be easily consumed.”

Sakiroo is the alias for Choi Sang Hyun, is a South Korean illustrator and character designer. The subjects for his work are varied and include caricatures of sports figures. His work has been described as “a multitude of illustrations and cartoons full of colour and extravagance,” “inspired by cartoons and manga,” influenced by “Asian themes,” and combining “hand-drawn illustrations with digital colouring.” In a recent interview he said that he mainly works on paper, which allows him to sketch in coffee shops, without the need of a computer.