Space Bat Killer: The Art Portfolio of Sean Bernhardt
Sean Bernhardt is an artist and illustrator who currently works under the nickname Space Bat Killer. In his drawings and collages, Sean embraces a high-contrast, retro-contemporary style infused with themes of consumerism, substance use, sex, and death.
As we've seen in previous features of Sean's spooky surf artwork, the artist's portfolio as a whole is steeped in tropical aesthetics and surf culture. This aesthetic jumping-off point creates a unique sense of juxtaposition with subject matter that tends toward the dark or taboo side of popular media.
In illustrations, Sean mainly works in black and white, using Sharpie markers and ink to develop images that present clearly delineated planes floating in negative space. Many of these illustrations are designs for t-shirts and other forms of branding. It's easy to imagine the images as full-sized screen prints or as smaller embroidered pieces.
