German-born illustrator, Hanna Barczyk, calls upon cultural influences—her family’s Hungarian heritage and Hungary’s folk art tradition, vintage Polish film posters, German Expressionism, Cuban poster art and Mexican murals—for her conceptual illustrative style. Traveling and working between NYC, Toronto and Montréal, Barczyk holds a mirror up to any place she finds herself in, creating work that is both personal and political.
A graduate of Ontario College of Art and Design University, earning a bachelor’s degree at the Toronto art school, her passion for dance, movement and music is evident in the flowing shapes she employs to create bold yet delicate illustrative design.
This award-winning illustrator’s work appears regularly in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Economist and The Globe and Mail. She has been published by Penguin/Random House and her work has been commissioned by Apple, Facebook, KEEN UNEEK footwear, Silver Jeans Co. and Urban Outfitters.
Barczyk’s work has been recognized by the Society of Illustrators, American Illustration, Communication Arts, Society of News Design, Creative Quarterly and 3 X 3 (magazine of contemporary illustration). She received the Melville White Award and was recently the subject of a feature in Communication Arts magazine.
Barczyk enjoys creating posters, book covers and murals in addition to her editorial and advertising illustration. She created the poster for the Oscar-winning documentary, Period. End of Sentence. She exhibits her paintings and drawings in Germany, The Netherlands and New York.
Her work is deeply concerned with the conceptual idea of the feminine and all that it embodies. She transforms sketches from her sketchbook into conceptually-complex finished illustration. She asserts that we all have our stories to tell regardless of our socio/economic backgrounds.
Her eye-bending images—with their minimalist flair for line and shape—are inspired by modernist painters, Matisse, Picasso and Frida Kahlo. When not at work in her studio, Barczyk likes to drink espresso, dance, ride her bike and lose herself in a good book.