Meet Houston artist Danyelle Lakin

Artist Danyelle Lakin developed her signature style at an early age. “When I was young I remember my mom teaching me to draw when I was about four years old,” Lakin recalled. “She was explaining about where the eyes should go and the head shape and things like that. I remember thinking ‘No, I want my people to look like this instead.’ So, they just kind of, right or wrong, stuck like that.” With their slit mouths, saucer eyes, and “little claw hands,” Lakin’s pale, haunting figures radiate exquisite apathy. “There’s a little bit of Gothic in them with them being pale and the dark circles,” Lakin said. “I wouldn’t say they were sad, maybe a bit stoic. There’s not a lot of ones smiling and if they do smile it’s kind of like a creepy, resigned smile.”