The Art of Steven Ricks

Fantastical and exotic, Steven Ricks' digital art reveals surrealistic worlds where humans coalesce with rare beasts, Inhabiting strange interiors and landscapes that appear as glimpses of either a primordial past or a distant future. Ricks' works are replete with sensuality, from the repeated imagery and manipulations of the female figure to the grace and exquisite beauty of a cheetah to saturated, outlandish landscapes. After receiving his degree at the American Academy of Art in Chicago, Ricks began working as an assistant in various Chicago photography studios. At the age of 24, he opened his own studio where he eventually converted to the use of exclusively digital media. While once limited by the constraints of traditional techniques, Ricks says that, using the advanced technologies of digital photography and design programs like Adobe Photoshop, "I can now create on paper the places that I long to visit in my head."