When it comes to the Chinese zodiac, this year belongs to the monkey, as Japanese illustrator Kouzou Sakai points out in his first Instagram post of 2016. The surreal image of an ape holding up a tree that is also the night sky is typical of his imaginative style. Sakai captures both emotional and physical feelings remarkably well in simple artworks. Visualizing the last day of work before New Years Eve festivities, he draws a business man surfing across through a cloud of scattered papers. The belly becomes a glass of beer in an all too accurate summary of the after effects of chugging. All of it is rendered as clean, crisply as the fresh start of the new year—unless that NYE hangover was regrettable enough to give 2016 a jagged start.A photo posted by Kouzou Sakai (@kouzou_sakai_illustration) on Dec 31, 2015 at 9:55am PST
A photo posted by Kouzou Sakai (@kouzou_sakai_illustration) on Jan 2, 2016 at 10:12am PST
A photo posted by Kouzou Sakai (@kouzou_sakai_illustration) on Dec 30, 2015 at 9:42am PST
A photo posted by Kouzou Sakai (@kouzou_sakai_illustration) on Dec 28, 2015 at 1:03am PST
A photo posted by Kouzou Sakai (@kouzou_sakai_illustration) on Dec 27, 2015 at 5:55pm PST
A photo posted by Kouzou Sakai (@kouzou_sakai_illustration) on Dec 22, 2015 at 8:44am PST
A photo posted by Kouzou Sakai (@kouzou_sakai_illustration) on Dec 6, 2015 at 6:28am PST
A photo posted by Kouzou Sakai (@kouzou_sakai_illustration) on Dec 19, 2015 at 9:57am PST
A photo posted by Kouzou Sakai (@kouzou_sakai_illustration) on Dec 5, 2015 at 6:54am PST
A photo posted by Kouzou Sakai (@kouzou_sakai_illustration) on Nov 30, 2015 at 3:17am PST
See more of Kozou Sakai's work on Instagram.Related:Korean Artist Makes Visual Puns from Pop Culture | Monday Insta Illustrator[Exclusive] Ron English's Incredible Hybrid AnimalsAn Interview with 'We Bare Bears' Writer Mikey HellerEazy E = MC² and Other Hilarious Mashup PortraitsA photo posted by Kouzou Sakai (@kouzou_sakai_illustration) on Nov 21, 2012 at 10:25pm PST