Sheryo: Wanderlast

A Parallel Planets piece by Pepe Serapio

We're all familiar with the idea that art is the exploration of the soul, regardless of whether that soul belongs to a single person or an entire generation. But souls are rarely stagnant, which means that one can improve on it. By improving, augmenting, a soul, transcendence is achieved, evolution, the next step taken. How can we improve a soul? We travel, of course.

To travel is to experience, to take a new culture in, to understand something new. Building on all that and more, we become better versions of ourselves and in the process we produce better art. At least, that appears to be true with Singaporean artist Sheryo, who is now based in New York.

One-half of an infamous artist duo (the other half is her professional and personal collaborator, The Yok), this street artist has been all over the world, beautifying borders, one wall at a time. Between 2008 and 2012, right when the world ended, Sheryo's work has been part of exhibitions from Asia to LA. Her travels have kept her inspired and motivated. Aside from eating their food and meeting new people, she encourages not only artists but also enthusiasts to dive with their craft smack-dab in the heart of a foreign culture. It's why we travel, after all.

It's not hard to relate to Sheryo and her work. Whether you're into tattoos or cartoon animations, you'll find something to love about her art. In particular, her characters remind me of Ren & Stimpy, a favorite of an older cousin who kept shoving it down my throat growing up. The only difference is that I can see myself clamoring after a tattoo of Sheryo's.


In both black and white and color, Sheryo paints a lot of food, which really speaks to me (and my gut). Pizza slices smoking cigarettes, hot dogs on skateboards, pineapples in heels, demonic chilli peppers playing video games... They're intentionally imperfect, and all that pop imagery just speaks to our love for the unique and chaotic, the different and strange. Amid our subconscious worries of living life as outcasts, of not fitting in, of not playing to the picture-perfect idea of what human beings should be, Sheryo's character murals calm the skitter scatter of our souls. Weird is good.

For more of these world-renowned surreal murals from one of Complex Magazine's “Top 10 Street Artists to Watch in 2013,” soulgaze Sheryo's wanderlust on Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr (and other Tumblr), and of course her website.