Kero is a highly talented illustrator and visual artist from Italy and has been an artistic force for as long as she can remember. She prefers to take inspiration from images that aren’t proper illustrations and has a particular eye for pieces that aren’t too overworked or showy. Although she claims that she’s not yet fully satisfied with her own work, Kero pushes forward without selling out her style to conform to gallery or mainstream standards. Her work often stitches together imagery with text in a collage type of format, opting to proudly exhibit marks of the artist rather than trying to achieve a flawless or “cleaned up” approach. The results are graphic, colorful, and yet still contained and clearly thought out. Seems like her style is working, as she’s been turning out posters for musicians, filmmakers, and art heads  She’s responsible for designing some of the most intricate and detailed record sleeves and posters we’ve ever seen including Clockwork and Avatism’s ‘Conducting The Method‘ EP on Vakant, Madteo’s ‘Insider‘ EP on Morphine plus almost all of Life and Death’s imagery (she is the in-house illustrator for Life and Deatth). Kero was born in early 1987 in a little village in the south of Italy, then studied and worked in Rome for 7 years before leaving for London. In an interview she gave a short list of designers and artists she followed and helped build her own visual aesthetic: “Hugo Pratt for his dreamy watercolour sceneries, Jean Giraud (Moebius), David Hockney, Daniel Egneus, Rick Gooding, Christo, Le Corbusier and Niemeyer. I love architectural sketches but at the same time I relish that Xerox print feeling of underground party flyers, I also grew up under the manga and street art wing. At the end of the day I just like people who can tell proper good and honest stories, that’s what really drives my passion for what I do.”

«A lot of people uses to ask what my actual name is, I reply “Rosamaria” then they ask “Why Kero?”. I don’t actually remember, it was university time and in my 20s Rosamaria was too long, then even Rosa or Maria sounded worst, we were too young. But who cares, actually Kero worked perfectly.»

 

Take a look at the beautiful gallery with Kero’s drawings and visit her website!