Esao Andrews combines a colorful palette with a surrealistically Gothic sensibility. Some of his paintings are twists on traditional portraits from earlier epochs akin to the work of Nicola Samorì. Wildly dilapidated and foreboding houses are a recurring motif, and, reminiscent of Shirley Jackson’s psychological horror stories, depict the inner, psychic falling-apart, decay, distortion, and warping. Fairy tales and folklore loom in the forefront with menacing or perverse appeal. His vibrant style often illustrates bizarre, obscene aberrations, contrasting atrocious or monstrous things such as a giant, bloated black spider with a symbol of sweetness and purity, a child or an angel.
