You’ve most likely heard the time period “cookie-cutter” to explain rows of homes seemingly indistinguishable from each other, save particulars like colour or which facet the storage sits on. For Brooklyn-based artist Hayden Williams, the comforting but barely eerie predictability of those sprawling settings is fodder for Suburbs, a sequence of illustrations tapping into American obsessions with privateness and ideal lawns.
“A lot of things interest me about suburbia,” Williams tells Colossal. “I enjoy the quiet, uncanny beauty that, due to its cookie-cutter nature, is also extremely relatable and nostalgic to many people.”
Williams makes use of Houdini, a 3D rendering software, to create his saccharine digital landscapes. By means of visible puns and mysterious lightning results, he emphasizes recognizable parts of neighborhood life, like in “Nosy neighbors,” through which a home curves upward and hovers over the adjoining property as if paying way-too-close consideration.
The artist additionally performs with notions of presence and absence, because the streets and sidewalks are utterly devoid of individuals, pets, and even vehicles, imbuing the homes with character.
In “Best friends,” for instance, a single walkway connects the entrance doorways of two homes, which sit alone in an expansive, shared garden. And in “Cul de sac,” an identifiable characteristic of many deliberate developments sinks into the bottom to create a spiraling, subterranean existence with no seen finish.
“I think there are a lot of interesting stories to be told about the suburbs,” Williams says. “They are an umbrella where many different, odd things take place. The series tells some of these stories—sad, weird, humorous—and tackles themes of growing up in suburbia and leaving it behind.”
Discover extra on the artist’s web site and Instagram.
