20 year old artist Hayden Reihl’s surreally psychedelic illustrations

Canadian visual artist Hayden Reihl’s illustrated emotions

We recently stumbled across 20 year old visual artist Hayden Reihl’s work and were blown away by the complexity and his attention to detail. His work is an interesting mix of surrealism, expressionism, and realism.

'brain joos'

“With ever changing style and structure, I create my art so that I can healthily and properly process my negative emotions in a meaningful way.” a beautiful way to express sometimes uncomfortable emotions, “Much of my work focuses on death, anxiety or confusion, which comes specifically from my anxiety.”

'ITS ALL A CYCLE.'

“I have many inspirations, however in regards to physical artists, my main inspiration is Kieran Valde as well as Picasso. Kieran is a good friend of mine whose art, specifically Feelings Of War (a painting), inspired me in 2017 to begin expression in art, as before that I would only draw portraits of famous people or characters from video games. Since then, I have been working on my craft almost daily, creating sketches, portraits, canvases and more. I also dabble in customizing clothes, and creating my own brand.”

'MASKS. (that we wear)'

As far as mediums go, Hayden revealed, “Generally, I use a brush tip felt marker with crayons, however recently I have been using all kinds of mediums ranging anywhere from watercolor and oil paints to pencil crayons and chalk.” he explained, “My favourite medium to create on are thick papered sketchbooks, and I love using crayons as they make me feel like a child again.”

'Old man wanderlust'

His style is constantly evolving, but one thing that stays consistent through most of his work is a lightpost, “which I consider my signature, I also use many bright colors and contrast between black and white and colored images. Many people consider my art to be "Psychedelic" or "trippy," and this is a valid point.”

'THE MARCH OF THEM'

“My art is made completely from my brain with no use of references. I simply have drawn so many portraits that I can create a person in my head and transfer it to paper. I also never plan my work, and let my imagination run wild.”

Check out more of his work and follow below!

Instagram: __lightpost__ haydenreihl

Twitter: @HaydenReihl