Realistic Paintings of Animals and Kids Walking the Streets Together

Kevin Peterson is an artist based in Houston, Texas who paints these hyper realistic paintings where fearless kids are exploring the decaying cities with the animal companions. The recurring themes of his work is innocent children accompanied by wild animals such as owls, bears, lions and foxes with a backdrop of abandoned and disintegrating buildings.

Through his work he is explaining the journey of life that we all take. "My work is about the varied journeys we take through life. It’s about growing up and living in a world that is broken. These paintings are about trauma, fear and loneliness and the strength that it takes to survive and thrive. They each contain the contrast of the untainted, young and innocent against a backdrop of a worn, ragged, and defiled world. Support versus restraint, bondage versus freedom, and tension versus slack are all themes that I often visit. My work deals with isolation, loneliness and longing teamed with a level of optimistic hope. Issues of race and the division of wealth have arisen in my recent work. This work deals with the idea of rigid boundaries, the hopeful breakdown of such restrictions, as well as questions about the forces that orchestrate our behavior."

More of his work can be viewed on his website and to watch him work behind the scenes visit his Instagram.