Just like Neo from The Matrix, we sometimes get a strange feeling deep in our guts that something is not quite right with the world. German artist Steffen Kraft, who also goes by the name Iconeo online, makes amazing social commentary pictures that highlight how ironic, weird and even hypocritical life can sometimes be.
Here are what we believe to be the most visually appealing pieces of Kraft’s unique artwork. So scroll down, upvote the ones you like, and share your thoughts in the comments. And make sure to read Bored Panda’s in-depth interview with the artist down below. After you’re done admiring these meaningful drawings, check out Kraft’s previous post on Bored Panda.
More info: Iconeo.de | Facebook | Instagram
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Bored Panda reached out to Iconeo to learn more about him, the way he creates his meaningful art, and the philosophy that hides behind each thought-provoking picture. When asked about the main inspiration for his art, Kraft replied that he find creative ideas in both small and large things.
“On the one hand, I'm inspired by little things, like my pencil, a cup of coffee or toilet paper. These little objects are icons. Everybody knows them. We don't have to think about their function when we see them. It's good brain training trying to place these things in a different situation. Sometimes, the results are meaningful, sometimes not.”
“On the other hand, I'm inspired by bigger things, like climate change, plastic pollution or social behavior. I try to make these complex themes simple and surprising,” the artist revealed to Bored Panda.
Climate change is happening, people!!!!!! If we don’t act now to at least greatly reduce the rate at which it’s happening, our future children won’t have a hospitable planet to call home!!
Kraft believes that in our daily routine, we are “overwhelmed with images and impressions”, which is why we lose the ability to “self-reflect and to see the world from a different point of view.”
“Of course, I also produce images, but it's the kind of communication most people understand quickly,” he admitted. “My goal is to surprise the viewer with simple drawing ideas that they may not have thought about and which make them think, and make them discuss them with others.”
This is so on track with what you see . I live in a small town in Montana but travel to Seattle WA every EASTER for cosplay convention . while I was there people and I am talking about the majority of people were walking around just like this illustration they didn't even look up when they were crossing the crosswalk in front of traffic. I guess they assume all drivers follow the rules.plus I am originally from the south and so I say hi to everyone not one person looked up or said hi back wait one person did but they looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language . This is who we now are in this world and it worries me when I think of my grandkids being taught or just shown that this is correct it is not. Our first language is talking to one another lets keep this new generation on the right path .
Just because you aren't vegan doesn't mean that you hate animals.
Yeah but isn't the point of this to show how bizarre it is that someone is thinking they love animals whilst knawing away the bone of something they claim to 'love'?
Load More Replies...I'm a vegetarian and to everyone saying that eating meat doesn't mean you hate animals, I agree. Just treat them humanely and don't eat SO much meat that it affects our climate.
You're an example for other vegans who are forcing their lifestyle on others. Thx for not being short minded :)
Load More Replies...I think that this is saying that if you aren't vegan you can't say you love animals because you are responsible for the abuse and death of many animals that you supposedly love. It's like saying that you love dogs while going to the Yulin festival. People who eat animals love dogs and cats and other pets, but they don't love all animals.
You missed the point. If a person truly loves animals, that person doesn't exploit, consume, or abuse animals. That's the way love works. If you love children, you don't sell them into slavery. If you love nature, you don't start forest fires and dump chemicals in lakes. If you love animals, you don't eat them. This is elementary ethics.
I think its sad all the food tossed. How much meat is throw away on a daily basis. If its not ate... Its going in the trash anyways. How much "meat" is thrown away? Jails, hospitals, nursing homes, restaurants, stores & home. Each day. If someone gave me meat, I'd eat it... Better then it 100% being killed then trashed.
People in this comment section are honestly calling vegans hypocrites for killing bugs. As if it's the same as killing pigs or cows or chickens. That's sad. Bugs don't actually give a c**p if they die. Sure they try to defend themselves when attacked, but that's just natural selection and evolution. Bugs are stupid and aren't even aware that they are alive. They don't even feel pain like we do. They don't suffer. Are you people aware of just how badly cows, pigs, chickens are treated? They are all kept in pens so small that they can't even turn around. They never get to see the sun. They are suffering. And the poor chickens. They are kept so close together that they get agitated and start pecking each other to death. So people cut off their claws and beaks to prevent that. And no humans don't need meat as part of our diet. That's b******t that you people keep spreading so that you don't feel as bad about what you're doing to those poor animals.
And free range farms are also b******t. Yes they are better for the animals, but still aren't perfect. Meat production uses up a LOT of our resources. Especially free range farms which use a lot more resources. Meat production is one of the greatest (if not THE greatest) contributor to global warming. Meat production is killing this planet. We can survive without meat. People claim that we can't get the protein we need from plants, but that is a lie. We can get just as much and sometimes even more protein from plants. Not to mention plant proteins are better for you than animal proteins. There is little to no reason why humans should still be eating animals. I'm not saying that meat eaters are bad people. I'm just saying that we need to work together to end all this pointless suffering.
Load More Replies...It is showing how hypocritical most people are when they say they live animals as they are woofing down a burger. Most don't love animals. They love pets. Dogs are food in parts of China, etc., but not here. If you truly love animals a dog is a pig is a snake or bug!
I love all animals, including pigs, snakes, and bugs, and guess what? I still eat meat.
Load More Replies...hypocrisy. they like the cute and cuddly ones. They like "pets" not animals
And the thread with the most comments goes to the one that triggers meat eaters into being defensive and hating on vegans for “moral arrogance”...
Dude, you're not 'triggering' meat eaters. We just have a different opinion than you do, deal with it. Morals are different, I get it, but that's no reason to start arguing and shaming others.
Load More Replies...I have a friend who posts cute pictures and videos of animals, including cows and chickens. A few posts later, she'll mention a meat dish, very likely from a factory-farmed animal. There's a disconnect to me, unlike with people who make a real effort to be ethical with eating meat, such as eating free-range animals, hunting for food, or reducing meat consumption.
I agree! I'm vegan but my boyfriends family has a small farm with beef cows and hunts for meat. It's all very ethical. The cows have a lovely life in wide open land. I think if you really love animals you can eat them but you'd want them to have the best life before you do so. Meanwhile most people who claim to love animals support factory farming where cows live in their own filth and have no access to fresh grass. If you love something you should appreciate it and supporting unethical farming is not a way to appreciate something you claim to love
Load More Replies...One loves the taste of animals, the other loves their faces. Get it?
Remember that art is your interpretation. The meat eater can love animals. Doesnt just mean he loves eating them.
It's a fad to hate vegans now because of the myth that they proselytize. If fact, vegans are quiet and don't give a damn what you eat. Meat eaters hate them because they force them to face their own hypocrisy: the fact that they are causing the death of and eating something they love, a mental contradiction that causes self-denigration.
I am not trying to fight anyone on this but I'm pretty sure the Artist is Vegan otherwise why would this person have bothered making this?? It's suppose to be ironic
Just because im not vegan doesn't mean I dont like animals I'd never go hunting and would never eat something like a fox
Hunting and eating an animal would be nicer than consuming an animal that was factory farmed.
Load More Replies...And I bet these same vegans in the comment section would go into screaming hysterics at the first sight of a bug, snake, mouse, ect. "Kill it! Get it away from me, it's gross!"
i am the vegan. literally everyone else in my family is the dude w/ chicken
Simple, beautiful image. Interesting on several levels - as only an image can be! Stereotype: Man meat-eater; woman eats healthily. (I am a vegan man) Assumption: If you eat meat you can't love animals. "Love" means... what? We can have a deep discussion about "loving" animals. What does this have to do with climate change? Are these people friends? Why does one have "VEGAN" lettered on shirt? Oh, oh . . . both are right-handed I'm sure other observations and subjects of interest can arise as we contemplate this image.
You know what? I was gonna post my opinion but I decided it wasn't worth getting into an online argument over something that could be solved by people not being all up in others businesses
They both are honest, the one loves animal and so does not eat them; the other loves animals to eat.
I love some animals, not others. If you say "I love humans", should I call you a hypocrite because you shouldn't love terrorists?
If you loved humanity enough, maybe you’d take appropriate action to stop your civilization from continuing to create monsters, rather than throwing up your hands and excusing it with “well, I guess some people are just born bad”. No one is born a monster.
Load More Replies...So meat eaters cant love animals, that means vegans cant love the planet... they dont eat anything to do with animals... we need to eat the honey bee's make, if it wasnt for bees we would be dying out by nos, we need water.. but the countries growing the avocados , almonds etc are using more water than necessary and mostly in countries which suffer from droughts already. So really, we are bad people and we can all eat whatever the f*ck we want and enjoy 😁😁 P.s Alot of these vegans preaching also still wear real leather so contradicts their whole point hahahaha
Literally everything you said is wrong. We need bees, but we don't *need* to eat their honey (how do you think bees survived before us?). Avocados and almonds require less water than meat production. Vegans don't wear leather - that's literally part of the definition.
Load More Replies...Ya, sorry, being an animal lover and eating meat is not hypocritical. Nice try though to the artist
I love animals more than anything but I also eat meat. Don't forget animals and birds eat other animals and birds.
You love your girlfriend nd your sister why not f**k them both, hypocrite
Classic vegan black and white thinking. You can love SOME animals, not give about SOME others and eat them at the same time, in the same way universal love among humans does not exist.
You ever see the bear with the pet cat? The bear loves that cat and makes a conscious decision to shelter it and keep it as a companion. But the bear doesn't give up eating fish. What about apex predators with human companions? Just because a lion has a human he decides not to eat doesn't mean he gives up meat. We can be compassionate animals without becoming herbivores. We can respect animals while also using them as a food source.
It’s still selective empathy. Humans are capable of FAR MORE self-determination than a bear or lion. Why should we not exercise that capability? A lion is an obligate carnivore. A human is not.
Load More Replies...I guess lions must be the most intelligent creatures in the world..
Load More Replies...Those are arrogant and ignorant people hurting their pets, NOT some example of how vegans think. I’m a vegan. I would never force my obligate carnivore cats to be vegan or vegetarian.
Load More Replies...It is true that you can't live without hurting some animal and I hate that. Do you realize that by eating cows and other large animals that eat far more plants than a vegan will, you are actually killing more of those small animals too? Their sweet little nests of babies get turned into mush so you can feed it to a baby cow until he is big enough to have his throat slit and his flesh chopped up into neat, clean packages so you can have your 'animal flesh/food' or whatever it is, so don't play it all high and mighty over vegans.
Load More Replies...Ethical carnivore is an oxymoron. Their is no humane way to kill someone that does not want to die
Load More Replies...Iconeo got a degree in Communication Design in Germany and founded an advertising agency. He admitted to Bored Panda that at that point he was “far away from being an artist” and also didn’t want to be one.
me trying to find the right angle to watch netflix in the middle of the night
“I liked to work for clients and create ideas to sell products. It was an important time for me, but after 8 years, I left the agency. Since then, I explored the art part inside of me. And it's a funny journey, not a straight path. I still do graphic design, logo design, poster design for clients, but more the artsy way with my style, not the advertising way with trendy images.”
Who knows maybe that will be the rest of the world one day? Be like either Mad Max or Waterworld?
Kraft had some advice for all the new, veteran, successful and struggling artists out there: “Being an artist means having good times and having bad times, especially in the beginning. Be patient when you are uninspired or when you feel misunderstood. You are on the right path, as long as you are engaged in doing what you find interesting. And don't forget to relax. I get the best ideas when I'm relaxed and out of my office.”
The vast majority of plastic comes from just a few rivers in China and India. They don't have trash pickup there, so people just toss all of their garbage into these rivers, which then feed into the ocean. Short of helping those countries with their waste disposal, the oceans will continue to fill with plastic.
Finally, Kraft told Bored Panda about his future plans. “I want to do a book for children, but as with every new thing, this is hard in the beginning. And I'm trying to learn AR-stuff to explore new ways of showing my art.”
Even the turtles can't keep all the waste we leave... It's sad that turtles have to clean another species' mess
WARNING: Do not use plastic straws! Feel free to use plastic plates, pens, plastic anything else.. and of course products in plastic package. It's also ok to use products (of any material) that small children make in places outside your country. But please, do not use plastic straws or bags. Plastic life. One use only. Only for you.
Note: this post originally had 38 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
'Everyone over consumes!' Says every super-cliche '90s art school kid in their pictures. 'I'm going to show that consumerism has taken over!!' So original. Of course the person saying this always seems to do so through the internet, lives in a city, travels by plane if they can and sips organic coffee - in other words they consume a ton of resources too. Of course they do, it's pretty hard not to. They're never actually saying: 'B/c of over-consumption I'm now going to live off the grid and/or like an Amish person.' Well that's okay, I don't expect anyone else to live that way, but then you can't really complain when others consume things, can you?
I can complain that businesses began using single serving packages heavily in the 90s instead of stay with reusable containers. Then they slap a recycling symbol on it to make every believe stuff actually gets recycled. Yet, over 25% of recyclables are put in landfills because of contamination. Recycling companies don't care because most of them are owned by landfill companies so they get paid either way. There is no set standard for recycling and what can be recycled, it varies based on the recycling plant. Most plastic items are also only recycled once before being put in a landfill anyways because it's cheaper to make something new than to reuse something.
Load More Replies...Yes, I agree, they are very well executed and they also provided a much more enjoyable and thought-provoking experience than I expected. I would like to see more of Steffen Kraft's work.
Load More Replies...At least some artists recycle the old "whats wrong with out society" subject very good.No waste,all well used over and over again
Exactly! No one has done more to reuse and recycles ideas than this artist, and it also has reduced something in me too.
Load More Replies...The sad thing is time is already up. Even if we stopped it all right this second we could never stop what's about to happen in 100 yrs.
Really hate that everything gets prefiltered based on votes. F**k votes. If people want to see exclusively what others like, they can bloody well skip whatever doesn't meet their quotum of appeal in the eyes of total strangers. Censoring content to most appeal to the blinkered is utter malarky.
A company called Loop, is trying to go back to the 50's to stop plastic use. They are partnering up with major manufacturers to package popular products into reusable metal containers. They will even come and pick them up for reuse. They are piloting in New York and another city. I will gladly sign up for this when if comes to my area. Sometimes going back to the past, does help.
many people on the left dont know how to communicate that its the corruption within capitalism that they hate and not structure of capitalism itself. Thats why you have hipsters saying I hate capitalism.
Load More Replies...The biggest problem in our society number #23...ahahhahaaahah what a nonsense
This artwork is engulfing for the soul and mind to understand and reflect. It's Very very ovrwehlming. I wanted to see the 38 images more but it would keep me awake for another hour !! :/
You are an IDIOT if you believe all the climate change BS. What arrogance to think man is going to control the climate OF THE ENTIRE PLANET!!!!!!! It's a SCAM to control your pathetic lives.
What is your education level, riteaidbob? Have you studied climate change at a college level? Where do you get your sources from?
Load More Replies...I'm sorry, but it feels like this artist is just one of those Millenial edgelords.
If a hipster said something that made perfect sense rationally... what stops you from enjoying it?
Load More Replies...I think these are very well done and consistent in their message. I hope to see more. I do agree the last 8 were not as effective as the first 30.
Nice! We only had the "social media is evil" cliché up till now but now we have the "plastic is bad" cliché too!
I share your sentiment, but , objectively and scientifically, plastic really is bad. At least, the plastic as we know it. But, oh my, it's so convenient... Good thing is, they are working on solutions to produce a different kind of plastic that is supposed to be less harmful than traditional kinds of plastic.
Load More Replies...'Everyone over consumes!' Says every super-cliche '90s art school kid in their pictures. 'I'm going to show that consumerism has taken over!!' So original. Of course the person saying this always seems to do so through the internet, lives in a city, travels by plane if they can and sips organic coffee - in other words they consume a ton of resources too. Of course they do, it's pretty hard not to. They're never actually saying: 'B/c of over-consumption I'm now going to live off the grid and/or like an Amish person.' Well that's okay, I don't expect anyone else to live that way, but then you can't really complain when others consume things, can you?
I can complain that businesses began using single serving packages heavily in the 90s instead of stay with reusable containers. Then they slap a recycling symbol on it to make every believe stuff actually gets recycled. Yet, over 25% of recyclables are put in landfills because of contamination. Recycling companies don't care because most of them are owned by landfill companies so they get paid either way. There is no set standard for recycling and what can be recycled, it varies based on the recycling plant. Most plastic items are also only recycled once before being put in a landfill anyways because it's cheaper to make something new than to reuse something.
Load More Replies...Yes, I agree, they are very well executed and they also provided a much more enjoyable and thought-provoking experience than I expected. I would like to see more of Steffen Kraft's work.
Load More Replies...At least some artists recycle the old "whats wrong with out society" subject very good.No waste,all well used over and over again
Exactly! No one has done more to reuse and recycles ideas than this artist, and it also has reduced something in me too.
Load More Replies...The sad thing is time is already up. Even if we stopped it all right this second we could never stop what's about to happen in 100 yrs.
Really hate that everything gets prefiltered based on votes. F**k votes. If people want to see exclusively what others like, they can bloody well skip whatever doesn't meet their quotum of appeal in the eyes of total strangers. Censoring content to most appeal to the blinkered is utter malarky.
A company called Loop, is trying to go back to the 50's to stop plastic use. They are partnering up with major manufacturers to package popular products into reusable metal containers. They will even come and pick them up for reuse. They are piloting in New York and another city. I will gladly sign up for this when if comes to my area. Sometimes going back to the past, does help.
many people on the left dont know how to communicate that its the corruption within capitalism that they hate and not structure of capitalism itself. Thats why you have hipsters saying I hate capitalism.
Load More Replies...The biggest problem in our society number #23...ahahhahaaahah what a nonsense
This artwork is engulfing for the soul and mind to understand and reflect. It's Very very ovrwehlming. I wanted to see the 38 images more but it would keep me awake for another hour !! :/
You are an IDIOT if you believe all the climate change BS. What arrogance to think man is going to control the climate OF THE ENTIRE PLANET!!!!!!! It's a SCAM to control your pathetic lives.
What is your education level, riteaidbob? Have you studied climate change at a college level? Where do you get your sources from?
Load More Replies...I'm sorry, but it feels like this artist is just one of those Millenial edgelords.
If a hipster said something that made perfect sense rationally... what stops you from enjoying it?
Load More Replies...I think these are very well done and consistent in their message. I hope to see more. I do agree the last 8 were not as effective as the first 30.
Nice! We only had the "social media is evil" cliché up till now but now we have the "plastic is bad" cliché too!
I share your sentiment, but , objectively and scientifically, plastic really is bad. At least, the plastic as we know it. But, oh my, it's so convenient... Good thing is, they are working on solutions to produce a different kind of plastic that is supposed to be less harmful than traditional kinds of plastic.
Load More Replies...