This Artist’s Mystical Animals Have A Sense Of Humor And Serenity

There’s no denying the charm of Seth Fitts‘s artwork. It’s full of animals with loads of personality, sheltering trees, and strangely comforting creatures Fitts calls “guardian spirits.” It’s akin to walking into an enchanted forest. Even his mysterious hooded figures seem friendly.

To create his images, the Georgia-based artist uses traditional media like paints and pencils. He often incorporates collage elements for a textured result. The collages often include text, and sometimes his work is even created on playing cards. The small, simple compositions usually only include a few colors (if any) and simple linework. However, the pieces have a resonating presence that lends them a remarkable amount of depth.

Fitts draws upon spiritual and mystical concepts for inspiration. He aims to explore the “realms of the imagination, soul, and spirit.” Fitts also draws on many art movements, including Neo-Surrealism, Symbolism, Expressionism, Surrealism, Illustrative Symbolism, and Mysticism.

Fitts’s serene, pensive animals exist in tranquil, mystical-seeming spaces. Their simple forms and faces are at once calming, sweet, and funny. His work is filled with cats, rabbits, foxes, and more. Also featured are hybrid creatures who, despite their ambiguity, share the same solid bodies and smooth faces. Fitts is particularly fascinated with birds after doing studies of them in college.

Images of animals and nature are nothing new in the art world, but Fitts brings the classic idea to a new place. He manages to do this through not only his style, which is at once airy and sculptural, but also with his concepts. The animals here are not just animals of the physical world, the viewer feels, but are endowed with a spiritual dimension. They seem to have personalities and roles, mostly up to interpretation, but call to mind animal totems and spirit guides of legend.

Fitts is a prolific artist, and you can check out his sizable oeuvre on his website, as well as on Tumblr, Facebook, and deviantART. He also runs a blog.