Artist Collaboration - Joel Anderson and Kai Carpenter
Every once in a while, our founder Joel Anderson comes across an artist whose talent is so exquisite, who's style and artistic values resonate so closely with ours, that we simply must collaborate with them.
That is the case with Seattle's own Kai Carpenter, a talented oil painter who's work personifies much of the classic designs of early-20th century poster art. Kai brings unique imagery and a romantic, moving, emotive style to the forefront of all his work. Kai's medium is oil paint, and he uses that medium to portray fantastic, almost indescribable wonders that earn him the title of being one of the greatest young American oil painters of our time. Below is the first of Kai's paintings that ADG founder Joel Anderson ever saw. The moment Joel noticed this masterful attention to character studies in this painting, he knew he wanted to collaborate with Kai.
Oil Painter Extraordinaire - Kai Carpenter
Born in Washington and educated in Rhode Island, Kai uses archetypal imagery to explore the nostalgia and emotive nature of vintage art, illustration, and design. Much of his work is inspired by the natural wonders of America's 62 National Parks. Kai also takes a great deal of inspiration from travel art and poster art, especially the idyllic beauty of couples enjoying romantic moments in different settings all across the world. Kai also creates fantasy art for Vertigo Comics, Riot Games, Wizards of the Coast, and Llewellyn Worldwide.
Since their first meeting in 2015, Kai and Joel have worked on over 120 designs and paintings, all of which can be found in the Kai Carpenter Collection. Besides producing a memorable body of work in the form of art posters, Kai's art is also available in plenty of ADG store products, such as 2020 wall calendars, coffee table books, and more.
Poster Artist and Anderson Design Group Founder - Joel Anderson
You've probably seen him in our social media posts, and perhaps you've gotten a chance to meet him in person at our Nashville art studio. Joel Anderson is the founder of Anderson Design Group, as well as the creative mind behind much of our vintage illustrations and retro art.
Joel launched Anderson Design Group in 2007. The goal was to specialize in illustration and poster design. Fast forward to the present, and Joel and his team of talented artists have created over 1,800 original works of art, including several posters for each of the 62 American National Parks!
One of the missions of Anderson Design Group has been to study, preserve, and continue the traditions of the Golden Age of Illustration. These traditions include the graphic design and illustration styles of the late-1800s to the mid-1900s. Joel and his artists create as much of their designs by hand as possible, only moving to the computer for the editing and printing phase. That allows the ADG team to create vintage art, canvas prints, wall posters, canvas posters, pop art posters, art deco posters, and other retro art that look just like the art of the Works Progress Administration, the Golden Age of Travel Art and Poster Art, vintage ad art, and other styles of that era.
The benefit of this approach is that our customers can decorate with vintage wall art, but they can do so without paying the high cost it would incur to purchase original, vintage designs from the early-20th century. We've had customers decorate entire homes with framed posters for just a few hundred dollars. And that puts a smile on our face, to know that our team is helping poster art enthusiasts decorate their homes and add a little color to their lives without breaking the bank.
Collaborating to Create Beautiful, Vintage Poster Art
When Joel first came across Kai's vintage paintings and retro art back in 2015, he knew Kai would be the perfect addition to the Anderson Design Group collaboration team. Fast forward five years, and Kai has contributed dozens of paintings to various ADG collections, including the National Parks Collection as well as American Travel, World Travel, and the Spirit of Nashville.
If you love vintage paintings, canvas posters, vintage prints, or art nouveau posters, the works of Kai Carpenter will look superb on your wall. If you'd like to learn more about Kai the artist, we even created a hardcover coffee table book that features his vintage paintings, his process, valuable notes, and helpful advice for aspiring artists and illustrators.
Here are a few behind-the-scenes shots of Kai creating a painting that became a popular poster design...
Interior Design with Vintage Art
Whether you have a love for classic paintings, romantic poster art, travel art, magazine art, or vintage art, Kai Carpenter brings a splendid array of work to the Anderson Design Group art collections. Let us know which of his paintings are your favorite, and we hope to see pictures of his work on your wall!
And don't forget, more than 120 Kai Carpenter original paintings are available for purchase as canvas prints, vintage posters, metal signs, canvas banners, postcards, notecards, or framed postcards. Variety is the spice of life, and you can decorate in your favorite style and fashion with multiple options for how you would like to receive your art.
Until next time,
-Ren Brabenec
Anderson Design Group Writing Staff
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