Friday 22 June 2012

Long Time No Sea

Ok, ok, it's been a while, I know. Things have been going on... I've been busy.... I've been quiet.. whatever, I resolve to blog a little more regularly... as you do, I'm sure. And yes, I haven't been to the sea for a while, except for a day out in Brighton to see a friends contemporary dance performance.

So first off, I'd like to introduce you to a few recent pieces of mine. I've been inspired and encouraged by mid-twentieth century ephemera of late and that's rubbed off on my work, as I'm sure you can tell. the kind of things I mean are posters, brochures, book covers, match box labels and various other printed matter from that broad period. Whether they're from Russian children's books from the '30s and '40s to 1960s novel covers by way of cheerful characters from 50s adverts, I'm particularly drawn to some of the more cheaply produced material that is a little more out of register and a little more crudely drawn sometimes. There's nothing nicer than the misaligned dot structure of some exotically frugal foreign matchbox or the way ink of a single hue sits on and in the surface of a traditional paper.

But, of course, what really matters is the image. For me, an advertisement, logo, label or image for some long forgotten product imbues it with a sense of mystery in the same appealing way that the pages of someone else's sketchbook or a found drawing who's origins have been lost do.

So with no further explanation...






P.S. By the way, does everyone start each fresh blog post with an apology for not blogging for a while?     Just noticed it on a couple of friends blogs - must remember to avoid that one.