form with an edge.
From the islands of Hawaiʻi, Komodo Koi channels raw creativity into modern visual expression through original paintings, illustrations, photography, and apparel built to elevate your style.
form with an edge.
From the islands of Hawaiʻi, Komodo Koi channels raw creativity into modern visual expression through original paintings, illustrations, photography, and apparel built to elevate your style.
paintings • illustrations
Komodo Koi paintings and illustrations blend realism, surrealism, and bold mixed-media techniques. Each piece walks the line between calm and chaos, detail and spontaneity. The creative process is grounded in a diverse range of mediums, including oil, acrylic, graphite, charcoal, and other experimental materials. From layered abstracts and portrait studies to collectible art stickers, every work explores contrast where soft meets sharp and precision meets instinct.
These pieces investigate emotion through texture, color, and rhythm. Some soothe, some provoke, but all invite a second look. Designed to spark curiosity and connection, this collection turns contrast into imagination, and imagination into form.
paintings • illustrations
Komodo Koi paintings and illustrations blend realism, surrealism, and bold mixed-media techniques. Each piece walks the line between calm and chaos, detail and spontaneity. The creative process is grounded in a diverse range of mediums, including oil, acrylic, graphite, charcoal, and other experimental materials. From layered abstracts and portrait studies to collectible art stickers, every work explores contrast where soft meets sharp and precision meets instinct.
These pieces investigate emotion through texture, color, and rhythm. Some soothe, some provoke, but all invite a second look. Designed to spark curiosity and connection, this collection turns contrast into imagination, and imagination into form.
photography
photography
Komodo Koi photography captures the space where mood, style, and story meet. Each image blends editorial polish with raw emotion, balancing precision and spontaneity. From expressive portraits to lifestyle and brand work, the focus is always on authenticity, light, tone, and composition working together to create depth and atmosphere.
Every photograph is approached through a fine-art lens, uniting emotional depth with refined visual structure. The work is shaped by the interplay of raw versus polished qualities and instinct versus intention, resulting in imagery that feels alive and atmospheric.
apparel
Komodo Koi apparel brings art beyond the canvas, turning original illustrations and designs into wearable statements. Each piece merges contemporary style with creative expression, blending clean design, bold imagery, and subtle symbolism.
From graphic tees to limited-edition prints, every item carries the same energy as the artwork: raw, refined, and rooted in individuality. Designed for comfort and crafted with intention, Komodo Koi apparel lets art move with you, transforming creativity into everyday form.
apparel
Komodo Koi apparel brings art beyond the canvas, turning original illustrations and designs into wearable statements. Each piece merges contemporary style with creative expression, blending clean design, bold imagery, and subtle symbolism.
From graphic tees to limited-edition prints, every item carries the same energy as the artwork: raw, refined, and rooted in individuality. Designed for comfort and crafted with intention, Komodo Koi apparel lets art move with you, transforming creativity into everyday form.
about
Komodo Koi is a creative studio where fine art, illustration, and photography intersect. The work blends realism, surrealism, and experimentation, turning contrast into beauty and emotion into form. Each piece, whether a painting, illustration, or photograph, balances precision and instinct, refinement and rawness.
,br>Our story is about transformation through contrast; a brand where rawness becomes refinement, and the rough becomes beautiful through intention. It’s named after two symbols that hold opposing, but deeply connected energies.
The Koi fish: graceful, symbolic, and enduring. It’s a symbol of beauty, spiritual evolution, and resilience. It flows, transforms, and rises.
Together, these elements reflect the core vision behind Komodo Koi. We transform raw emotion and unrefined ideas into work that is elevated, intentional, and visually compelling. Our creative approach balances bold expression with meticulous detail, producing pieces that are impactful while maintaining clarity, sophistication, and polish. Guided by curiosity and rooted in Hawai‘i’s natural rhythm, Komodo Koi transforms feeling into visual experience, inviting viewers to look deeper, feel more, and see beyond the surface.
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Born and raised in Hawai‘i, John Michael Dee creates from a space where contrast defines beauty. His work moves fluidly between realism, surreal illustration, and experimental mixed media, reflecting a fascination with tension, the soft beside the raw, and the graceful beside the untamed. Each piece is an exploration of duality, emotion, and the unseen layers of experience.
Guided by instinct and grounded in place, his creative process blends clean design with dreamlike logic. He approaches imagery the way he approaches experience, not as a statement but as a question. He believes art should question as much as it soothes, and he allows that friction to stand when the situation calls for it. To him, beauty means more when light has shadow.
Through his studio, Komodo Koi, John continues to blur boundaries between fine art, illustration, and photography, creating work that feels alive, honest, and transformative.
about
Komodo Koi is a creative studio where fine art, illustration, and photography intersect. The work blends realism, surrealism, and experimentation, turning contrast into beauty and emotion into form. Each piece, whether a painting, illustration, or photograph, balances precision and instinct, refinement and rawness.
,br>Our story is about transformation through contrast; a brand where rawness becomes refinement, and the rough becomes beautiful through intention. It’s named after two symbols that hold opposing, but deeply connected energies.
The Koi fish: graceful, symbolic, and enduring. It’s a symbol of beauty, spiritual evolution, and resilience. It flows, transforms, and rises.
Together, these elements reflect the core vision behind Komodo Koi. We transform raw emotion and unrefined ideas into work that is elevated, intentional, and visually compelling. Our creative approach balances bold expression with meticulous detail, producing pieces that are impactful while maintaining clarity, sophistication, and polish. Guided by curiosity and rooted in Hawai‘i’s natural rhythm, Komodo Koi transforms feeling into visual experience, inviting viewers to look deeper, feel more, and see beyond the surface.
-
Born and raised in Hawai‘i, John Michael Dee creates from a space where contrast defines beauty. His work moves fluidly between realism, surreal illustration, and experimental mixed media, reflecting a fascination with tension, the soft beside the raw, and the graceful beside the untamed. Each piece is an exploration of duality, emotion, and the unseen layers of experience.
Guided by instinct and grounded in place, his creative process blends clean design with dreamlike logic. He approaches imagery the way he approaches experience, not as a statement but as a question. He believes art should question as much as it soothes, and he allows that friction to stand when the situation calls for it. To him, beauty means more when light has shadow.
Through his studio, Komodo Koi, John continues to blur boundaries between fine art, illustration, and photography, creating work that feels alive, honest, and transformative.
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