Way back in June, I took part in the "Comics In The Kitchen" exhibiton at Orbital Comics, London, alongside a bunch of other food-loving cartoonists and illustrators creating illustrated recipes.
I decided to revisit two characters from a recipe comic that I created last year, featured in the Comics Cookbook, published by Centrala, but come up with a new recipe to illustrate. After giving it some thought, I decided to do a cake recipe, because I enjoy baking cakes. I looked up some recipes online and decided to go with a chocolate and beetroot cake, which I did try baking before deciding if it was the right recipe to use for my comic.
The exhibition was great and there was a really strong mixture of different styles and recipes. Obviously, it's long since been taken down, but here's my piece from the show [click to enlarge]...
Earlier this year, I submitted a design for the 2016 Secret 7" show. The annual show has been running since 2012 and each year takes 7 tracks from 7 musicians/bands and press each one 100 times to 7” vinyl. They then accept submissions from creatives from around the world to interpret the tracks in their own style and 700 sleeve designs are selected and printed, to create 100 unique copies for each of the 7 tracks. These are exhibited and then sold for £50 apiece to raise money for a selected charity.
Of the 7 tracks available, I decided to create a design for Art School by The Jam. Sadly, my illustration did not get selected for the final exhibition, but that doesn't stop me sharing it here...
As well as doing my freelance illustration work, I've also been working at the Victoria and Albert Museum as a Gallery Assistant since March 2015. And recently these two parts of my working life co-existed, as I submitted an illustration for VAMALGAM 7, The V&A Staff Art Exhibition.
I decided to create a new drawing inspired by the V&A's collection ("Site Specific", innit!) and while looking around at the objects on display, began imagining a knockout slugfest between the plaster cast of Michelangelo's statue of David, housed in the museum's impressive Cast Courts, and the bust of Queen Victoria located in the British Galleries...
The exhibition is on display in the staff canteen area, so sadly isn't on view to the public, but here a few photos of the exhibition...
Back in June of last year I took part in a group exhibition called Into The Sun at the A-side B-side Gallery in Hackney Downs, curated by my friend Ivy.
I created two new pieces for the show...
And here are a few photos from the opening night...
I submitted a couple of designs for this year's Secret 7" show. The annual show has been running since 2012 and each year takes 7 tracks from 7 of the best-known musicians around and press each one 100 times to 7” vinyl. They then accept submissions from creatives from around the world to interpret the tracks in their own style and 700 sleeve designs are selected and printed, to create 100 unique copies for each of the 7 tracks. These are exhibited and then sold for £50 apiece to raise money for a selected charity.
Sadly none of my designs were selected to go into the exhibition this year, but with over 4,500 sleeve designs submitted and only 700 sleeves in the final exhibition, there was a lot of competition.
Still, I was pleased with the designs I produced, so at least I can share them here. However, in the spirit of Secret 7", I'm not going to tell you exactly which track they were for, although I will give you the list of the 2015 track selection so you can hopefully work them out for yourselves...
Let Forever Be by The Chemical Brothers
Reflections by Diana Ross & The Supremes
Go by The Maccabees
Sledgehammer by Peter Gabriel
Dead Flowers by The Rolling Stones
Digital Witness by St Vincent
Born Slippy by Underworld
The Secret 7" exhibition will be on at Somerset House from 10 April – 3 May, and the 700 copies will go on sale on the 4 May.
Last Sunday I took part in The House of Illustrations inaugural Illustrator's Fair, as part of their House-Warming Season ahead of the opening on 2 July with an exhibition of work by Quentin Blake!
This was my first time to have a stall at an event like this. Here's some photos of my stand...
As well as A3 and A4 prints and original artwork, I was also selling copies of my first self-published comic – a collection of my penguin comic strips!
I had a really good day and even managed to sell some of my work! It was really good to see people's reactions to my work and speak with so many people.
I was asked by the band Emperor Yes to take part in an art show they were putting on to coincide with the release of their new single The End Of The World. All of the work in the show was based on the band's song.
Here's my piece for the show...
I actually took a while to come up with an idea for what to do. I had a few different ideas that didn't quite work out and then last week I was working in my part-time job at the National Gallery, in Room 44, looking at George Seurat's Bathers at Asnières, when I suddenly had an epiphany! Looking at that painting, the composition just formed in my mind for my piece for the show. After struggling with what to do for a while, it was amazing that the idea could just come together in an instant!
Afterwards, I hurriedly scribbled down a (very!) rough sketch of my idea, and then later drew up the final piece, pretty much exactly as I'd imagined it!
The End Of The World Art Show will be on at Lo and Behold gallery, 2B Swanfield St, London E2 7DS until the 9 March.
I recently took part in the gallery show Emperor Yes Presents "COSMOS", put together by the band Emperor Yes and all the
work based around their new single, Cosmos.
Click on image to enlarge
The opening night for the show was very busy, with lots
of people making it along despite the cold weather...
I've previously posted about my The Sketchbook Project 2012 sketchbook, which I completed in January of this year and sent off to the Brooklyn Art Library to be part of their permanent collection. Since then, the sketchbooks have been on tour around the US and are now making a one week stop-off in the UK, and will be available to view at Canada Water Library in London from 12–19 October. The opening times to view the sketchbooks are as follows:
I'm hoping to make it along tomorrow to have a look.
For those of you that missed my previous posts about my sketchbook, I selected the theme Heroes & Villains, and my book – entitled SUPERhuman – depicts various fantastical comic book heroes and villains carrying out mundane everyday tasks. It's an idea that I have plans to continue working on, and as part of that, and to celebrate the start of the London stopover, I've drawn a new image featuring Mr Fantastic from The Fantastic Four putting his mental abilities to the test with a jumbo puzzle book...
I am currently exhibiting two new comics pieces as part of the Emperor Yes & Friends show at Top Office Machines, 133-135 Bethnal Green Road, just near the top of Brick Lane.
The show is tied in with the release of the first single by Emperor Yes, and features work by a diverse range of artists working in various media. All the work was inspired by two songs by the band, entitled Fishes and Wasps.
I am going to be exhibiting two new pieces of work as part of a special show to celebrate the release of the first single by Emperor Yes. Fifteen artists will each be presenting work inspired by two of the band's songs, and there will also be live music, DJ sets, stand up comedy and other events happening alongside the gallery show. The show will take place at Top Office Machines, 133-135 Bethnal Green Road, London, E2 7DG, and will run for three weeks from the 6–29 July, with a private view this Thursday 5 July from 8pm.
Yesterday afternoon I went to Tate Modern with my friend to see the Damien Hirst retrospective exhibition that opened this week, part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad.
Now I'll admit straight away that I'm fairly unimpressed with Hirst's work. But I'm also slightly intrigued by the manner in which his work is regarded among the general public. Indeed, while my friend was thinking out loud whether she wanted to see the exhibition, a woman standing in front of us turned round and exclaimed: "Oh you must! He's the BEST British artist! He has a shark in a tank!". It's hard to argue with such a rousing endorsement...
So we went to see the exhibition. And there was indeed a shark in a tank! And a sheep in a tank. And a cow cut in half in a tank. And a baby cow cut in half in a tank. There are probably 4 or 5 different ideas in there – dead creatures in tanks, spots, butterflies and things in cabinets... – and these are then slightly revised and repeated throughout. It's about death. Or it's about love. But is it art? Whatever it is, it is at least thought-provoking and creates debate. Me and my friend had a long discussion about the exhibition afterwards. And maybe that is what art should do? But I still don't understand this need to parade Hirst around with such acclaim.
Hirst's work reminds me of the story of The Emperor's New Clothes, where the Emperor is told that a stupid person is unable to see the clothes that the tailor creates for him. And so as not to look stupid, the Emporer parades naked around the city to avoid admitting that he can't see the non-existent clothes.
We are told that Hirst is a great British artist, and so we hold him up as such, for fear of looking ignorant if we question the hype...
The exhibition Damien Hirst is on at Tate Modern until the 9 September.
Just a quick reminder that the UPside exhibition is currently on at the Medcalf Gallery, 38–40 Exmouth Market and the Private View will be happening tomorrow night (21 September) from 6–9pm if you have a spare evening and fancy popping along to check out the show...
Here's a sneak peak at a section from one of my works in the exhibition featuring one of my personal reasons to be cheerful – eating sushi! *nom nom nom!*
I've been busy the last few weeks producing work for the UPside exhibition, a group show that I'm taking part in along with 13 other artists. Yesterday we went along and sorted out hanging the work in the gallery.
I've got two pieces of work in the show, my series of portraits of my friends faces and another new piece, which you can just about make out in the photo above...
The exhibition opens today at the Medcalf Gallery on Exmouth Market, and will be up until Sunday 7 November (Mon-Sat 12–11pm, Sun 12–4pm).
I'm taking part in a group exhibition, to be held next month, alongside 13 other artists as part of our ongoing Playroom collective.
The exhibition is entitled UPside and aims to present a varied collection of private fascinations, small joys, curiosities and indulgences. In short, our reasons to be cheerful!
I've been doing some initial thinking about the project and decided that my own personal reason to be cheerful was my friends. Good friends are always there when you need them, and even when you don’t. They are there to share the good times and can help make a bad situation seem less so.
Or to put it another way...
Anyway, inspired by my recent illustration for Amelia's Magazine which involved a series of portraits, I decided to produce a number of portraits of my friends. My idea was for the final piece to be large in size (around A1) but the individual images to be relatively small, so that the work will reward closer viewing, while also providing a pleasing overall aesthetic.
I mocked-up a version of how I envisage the final piece to look, using a series of faces from recent birthday cards I've produced for friends...
I'm going to be working on this project over the next few weeks, and will post some more updates in the meantime.
The exhibition will be held at the Medcalf Gallery in Exmouth Market in September, and I will post the details of the dates and times of the exhibition as soon as we've finalised everything.
I'm currently exhibiting work, along with some of my friends from the MA course, in Osaka, Japan, which is all very exciting!
There's a website with a video we shot in Camberwell earlier in the year (now with added musical madness), and here are a couple of photos from the exhibition:
So, if you happen to be around in Japan before the 31 August, check it out...
