While years of exploration in med school can lead to a profound appreciation for the human condition, sadly, it rarely leads to an equally profound appreciation of the Muppet condition, unless you're the bald dude with the other dude who just says "meep" a lot. For an artist keenly aware of this, check out Zach Zwagil.

Creating rich, textured charcoal n' pastel portraits of everything from Jim Henson's finest to Jim Morrison, Baltimore-based Zwagil turned his hand to art after taking a "Drawing 101-type class" senior year as he wrapped up his major in Physiology & Neurobiology at College Park, officially veering off the pre-med path to riches, and onto the pre-art back-alley to a shared basement studio apartment. Nearly all the gallery'd works can be ordered as canvas or photo-paper prints in a surprisingly wide and cheap range of sizes (from 6"x8" to 30"x40"), with the bulk of the portraits done on old-school musicians deemed worthy of "immortalization", like a bespectacled, half-smiling Lennon, a crooning Thom Yorke, and a harp-strumming Dylan, painted in deep (can't get no) relief. More soulfulness comes via renditions of a laughing Ray Charles, a super zoomed-in Aretha taking it to the church, and a bejeweled hat-wearing Sly Stone assaulting the mic, unlike Sly Stallone, who saves his assaults for Vietnamese P.O.W. camp operators, arm-wrestling truckers, and the most frightening, powerful, and imposing man in the world: Ivan Drago. Just kidding, it's John Lithgow.

Zwagil also offers up outliers like the "Mo'nique vs the Oscars", and the aforementioned Muppet-tasticness, in the form of portraits of Gonzo and Animal, who beyond a profound appreciation for eating his own high-hat cymbals also has an abiding love for RENOOOIIIRRRR!!!

Add this to My Thrillist

Everything's available to view and purchase off ZachZwagil.com, including a link to Baltimore's Fells Point frame shop.