Every Flower That Blooms Had a Bee That Believed in It - Kari Black
Written by Nicole Misfitx
Published on August 17th, 2026
“I feel like people should care about the environment because it’s the number one thing that affects everyone, like all humans, all plants, and all animals, as well as it’s the one thing that provides us with the essentials that all of us need to live and survive here as well. It’s like an afterthought or like not even on their agenda,” Black said.
The human eye can see more shades of green than any other color. That’s due to the evolution of humans from survival instincts, having to differentiate between vegetation. The green hues of a forest, a city park, or a neighborhood impact us by lowering stress levels and improving mental health. Think of the opposite: the blue screen you’re staring into causes strain on your eyes; green shades relax the eyes and mind.
Protecting the environment is crucial for humanity’s survival and is the focus of artist Kari Black’s work. He reminisced, “Nature is what I would be most inspired by and engage with in my youth. Growing up, being born in 1996, kids were outside more and interacting with nature. Whether that’s climbing trees, running in parks, playing in the water, or digging stuff up in the ground, just a lot of engagement with the natural world growing up.”
Black grew up in the South Shore neighborhood of Chicago but went to school in Hyde Park and Lincoln Park. He attended art-focused schools such as Franklin Fine Arts Center, where he was exposed to many talented artists. “Nick Cave was one of the people we based one of our projects on. We made these sound suits inspired by his pieces and did a performance with them at the end of the project.”
He was immersed in the world of art at home, too; his parents are artists. “My mom, being a visual artist and muralist, was always a huge inspiration and the most direct example I could see of a living, working artist. And her friends, people like Max Sansing, would come over and show me his sketchbook, and I’d be like, ‘What? People can draw this well?’ I was inspired by all these people,” Black stated. His mom worked with different mediums like set design and interior murals for people’s houses. His bedroom was painted with a lively mural. “Our childhood bedroom was painted as a complete jungle, all around, every animal in there, giraffes, apes, tigers, all types of animals, just a literal nature scene in my bedroom. So, that was a huge inspiration.”
Though the city has green spaces, he was able to explore outside Illinois and be immersed in nature.
Though the city has green spaces, he was able to explore outside Illinois and be immersed in nature. Black and his siblings attended Concordia camp in Minneapolis during the summer, deepening his appreciation for the natural world. “We were in a forest where we had little cabins that we stayed at and lived in for the whole summer. During the daytime, we have different nature activities that we could sign up for and do. We did all that stuff, hiking, camping, kayaking, fishing, all that,” Black said.
Always outside growing up, he found inspiration from various media, too. Cartoon Network and Adult Swim cartoons are major ones. “Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends. That was a huge one. Courage the Cowardly Dog, Samurai Jack, The Boondocks, Dragon Ball Z, and different early anime like Naruto and One Piece,” Black said. “I would have the manga and comic books that I got from one of my close friends, and we would sit down and sketch from those books as references to try to learn how they do those drawings.” The character design inspired him to learn to eventually make his own characters. Which is exactly what he’s done with his art journey.
Through experimentation with almost every medium from sculpture to printmaking, linoleum cutting, digital photography, illustration, graphic design, videography, animation, 3D design, and painting. Black has found that every medium is a way to facilitate a message uniquely. “Yeah, different mediums can be used in different forms and settings. If I’m doing something outside in the public, something more mural-wise or sculpture-wise could get a message across and just engage with people more than something smaller for an interior setting or a show.”
Growing up, environmentalism and social issues were something Black was empowered by.
Growing up, environmentalism and social issues were something Black was empowered by. “Since I was in second or third grade. We would hear things like the Paris Agreement and all the worry about the holes in the ozone layer. People like Al Gore, who were running specifically on those ideas. It was always prevalent to me as I learned more about it growing up, and seemed like something important that I’d like to make work about,” Black said.
This year, he released his first figure design of his character, Taru. “Taru is a humanoid flower character. His origin story is he was made by a scientist in a lab in 2075 in a post-environmental apocalypse setting. He was made to help save an endangered wildflower species from going extinct, and in the process, he was created by accident,” Black said. “From there, he’s learned about the world and what’s going on and really wants to help in any way he can and learn how he can engage with people and plants and animals and nature.”
His solo show last year featured Taru in various environmental situations, voicing concerns about the state of the world culturally and with climate change. One piece I liked was Taru and another character holding a sign saying ‘melt ice,’ which has a double entendre about ICE attacking citizens and the ice caps in the Arctic melting.
Black plans to explore Taru’s origin story and journey deeper in his first graphic novel he’s creating. “I wrote it last year and storyboarded it. I’m on page 38 right now out of 60, and I’m hoping to have it finished by the middle of the year and then start working on getting it published,” Black said.
Another avenue for getting his messages out there is with his company, Petalhead.
Another avenue for getting his messages out there is with his company, Petalhead. He uses mediums like art figures, t-shirts, hoodies, and similar items to make it more accessible to people who can’t afford high-priced paintings.
For Kari, being vocal about climate change is more important than ever. He stated, “people definitely have to fight back against that stuff because the environment and nature are invaluable.” You may have seen Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill gutted funding and staffing for national parks. It took funding from agencies that provide emergency assistance in extreme weather. The reason we have had more extreme weather in the first place is global warming. The bill prioritizes timber production, eradicating forests, ramping up oil and gas production, and deep-sea mining. A crackdown on protesters is also in effect. The president referred to climate change as a “scam” at the UN General Assembly in 2025. The U.S. withdrew from the Paris Agreement, in which countries are trying to limit detrimental levels of global warming we’re reaching by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Under Trump’s directive, the government has been falsifying information about climate change, including erasing information from websites. “I feel like people should care about the environment because it’s the number one thing that affects everyone, like all humans, all plants, and all animals, as well as it’s the one thing that provides us with the essentials that all of us need to live and survive here as well. It’s like an afterthought or like not even on their agenda,” Black said. He tracks air quality during the summer as rising temperatures make for worse air quality, which trees help mitigate. Trees are essential to our life force and how we breathe, it gives us oxygen. In one year, a tree can absorb half a metric ton of carbon dioxide. This makes the timber industry’s attack on eradicating forests damaging to all lives. This includes animals whose environment is being obliterated, and conservation efforts are rolled back.
Kari hopes his work creates conversations about environmentalism and how we interact with the natural world.
Kari hopes his work creates conversations about environmentalism and how we interact with the natural world. “I hope they take from my work a sense of optimism and belief in nature and our ability to kind of combat the destruction of it, and at the same time, hopefully, learn something or be educated a little bit or inspired to, uh, take action or just talk about those topics more,” Black said.
Current inspirations for him include reading environmental articles, watching movies and anime, and artists like Kim Jung Gi, Kerry James Marshall, and Max Sansing. You can find Black with his next project, painting five murals at Hyde Park Art Center on the side of the building, it will include designs from his solo show. You can find his official toy release of Taru at Rotofugi.
Nicole Misfitx is a writer and photographer passionate about documenting art, graffiti, and street art in Chicago. Her love of writing led her to receive a degree in Creative Writing and Journalism from schooling at Columbia College Chicago and SNHU. She then combined her love of documenting art, photography, and writing to showcase various art, artists, and important social topics. Her drive for writing is to give exposure to lesser-known artists and the overall street art and graffiti scene in Chicago. In addition, she enjoys nature, travel, movies, all things spooky, and fashion.