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There's something very disturbing about John Holcroft's work, but in a very good way. Checking out his cool drawings, you can't help but feel as if you're seeing something forbidden. The fragility of the system, the obscurity of your career; the lack of romance in today's world. The characters' passions are their torture and there's only one way out - embracing the absurdity of the modern world. Working from a studio near Sheffield, UK, Holcroft manages to connect two completely different eras. Drawing inspiration from 1950s screen print posters, he creates satirical illustrations that deliver a great social commentary on the things that are wrong with our society.

More info: johnholcroft.com | Facebook | society6

"My work is concept rather than character based," Holcroft told Bored Panda after being asked if he ever feels like a character in one of his pieces. "However, when working on an illustration whether it's a commission for a publication or a self-promotional piece I imagine what it's like to be in the situation of the concept. It helps to communicate to the reader more if they can related to the person in the image."

"My biggest concerns about society are that we are too reliant on devices to the extent of obsession," the artist said. "There is also a large proportion of young people that have 'dumbed down' and see platforms like YouTube as a new standard in entertainment, watching mindless drivel by people who either just want to be famous or want to viewing figures for ad revenue. This has become acceptable and the norm."

"How some people can be easily lead to believe things that the media tell them, whether it be about elections or referendums some people believe what they read on social media and tabloid newspapers instead of seeking out the facts."

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Mewton’s Third Paw
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I love this one because this is exactly how it feels. Like of course women can say whatever we want and we can land jobs in any profession, but it doesn’t mean people take you seriously. It doesn’t mean the boys in the room don’t treat each other with higher regard.

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Xian Tian
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

this happens everytime....especially in the IT world.....

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E FourOFour
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have never understood this IT divide between men and women. I have worked in the IT world for over 20 years and I have always valued and respected my female colleagues contributions, ideas, and decision making.

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Adit Saxena
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've just replied to another comment, I didn't felt this divide. Been working in more than a dozen of IT work places and gladly saw no one daring to hint that gender (m/f/o), ethnic race, color or age as a differentiating issue. There are surely plenty of sexist/segregating places but believe it or not in this field people are generally more open towards diversity. To Amber, thanks for femsplaining.

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Nomadus Aureus
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My personal favourite was when I literally copied and pasted an email previously received by a male superior and just re-wrote the dates, location and name. Got a bunch of angry emails by male co-workers about how disrespectful and aggressive I sounded in my email...

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Connie Bonneville
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When a man mansplains why mansplaining doesn't exist. Thanks. Because now I get it.

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Bruno Mruzin
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4 years ago

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Luis Milian
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4 years ago

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always with the touching. or am I seen things?

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Clinton Yew
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4 years ago

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This no longer the case though... a lot of men stop trying to explain or argue on something with women... Cause no matter what you said, you either get the title of mansplaining / trying to show dominance or get accused of sexual harassment...

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Kaisu
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm glad men are working hard to do the bare minimum and trying to respect their conversational partner and trying to not sexually harass someone, well done, the achievement of the year

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ThatRandomMofo
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4 years ago

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Mansplaining does NOT F*****G EXIST... you retards listen to too much outrage media

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Captain Foley
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

it does, but everyone is guilty of it too, so nobody can exactly complain about it.

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Bryan G
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4 years ago

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Jesus Christ, this gender war is ridiculous. My branch manager and general manager are both women. Shut the f**k up

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Tor Rolf Strøm
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4 years ago

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Yeah, damn men.. always pushing down pink floating bubbles! Btw, why is the womens bubble pink, and the mans blue? That some sort of gender based stereotype or something!? NOT WOKE ENOUGH PASS

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csaclint
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4 years ago

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i guess she didn't know the answer, so he provided it. Being as he is a male however, his desire to inform her just a little was seen as a sexist jab, and this poor fella is stuck trying to figure out wtf he did wrong.

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Gerry Higgins
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4 years ago

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Bull s**t. Every husband knows his wife won't shut up so he might as well give up. She will always have the last word.

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Despite all the grim colors in his creative drawings, Holcroft likes to think he's optimistic, believing that everything's gonna be OK regarding such social problems like climate change. "But the pessimistic side of me gets restless when I don't see very much movement politically. My biggest frustration is that little people like me and you don’t have a voice, we are shouting at the governments of the world to do something, millions of us with out metaphoric megaphones shouting ‘the world is in crisis, what are you doing about it?’. All while large corporations are profiting on the pollution without a care in the world."

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The Dutches
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Tony’s Chocolonely. Slave-free chocolat and really delicious. Just look it up. It is great.

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The artist also tries not to get involved in anything religious or something that may offend others, unless it's for a really good cause. "The reason being, primarily this is how I make my living and I produce show pieces to attract work and I don’t thing I will be very popular if I alienate my potential clients. Although magazine articles tend to cover interesting subject matters they don’t like to upset their readership."

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Elizabeth
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This one strikes me as a sentiment on pollution- the scientists are trying to push global warming into reverse

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Natters
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

He doesn't feel so good. (I'm sorry! I know this is a real problem in our society)

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Foxxy
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I know I shouldn’t laugh but seeing Ronald McDonald as a food baby is funny as.

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Foxxy
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4 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I never did this. My son is 5 and goes on the iPad once in a blue moon and never plays with my phone.

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Sara
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Facebook has become much of society's weapon of choice when it comes to expressing their opinions (or blasting others' opinions)

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anarkzie
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I wonder if when books first became widespread did they prompt the same overreaction as we are now seeing with tablets, phones etc?

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Just Curious
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is entirely original and has never before been depicted in art.

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Meyer Weinstock
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

an economy based solely on sales (and not service or production) will fall like a row of dominoes

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Mewton’s Third Paw
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My opinion is that he’s looking to pills to fix his problem and not finding the answers there. Maybe it’s not about modern medicine as much as it is about people expecting pills to cure-all for certain things but not putting in the real world work. The pill is empty because it didn’t solve their problem. Maybe?

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Daria B
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Now I kinda want to build myself a lego fortress of my own.

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Kathy Baylis
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is the unintended consequence of the Genome Project on the nature vs nurture argument. Suddenly everyone started thinking “There’s a gene for that” about every aspect of human variation, including those that are shaped more by environment. Therefore, if someone is deemed aberrant, it’s automatically attributed to genetics, rather than the neglect and/or brutality they may have had to survive from childhood. This, in turn, can lead to labeling, which means society automatically writes them off as not worthy of our time and attention, and basically disposes of them through the school to prison pipeline—-strong and immobilizing shackles, indeed.

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sh
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4 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Our necessities are starving babies that the government controls with the promise of money they may or may not get.

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