Art Shop Collective

I am now part of the artists collective and gallery called Art Shop, a new venture from Arthur and Albert. The gallery space will be open to the viewing public every 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month.
Looking forward to seeing you there!

Mokita at Pick Me Up Somerset House

 

Last Tuesday I attended Mokita at the Pick Me Up art fair at Somerset House. The brainchild of reputed academics Roderick Mills, Darryl Clifton and Geoff Grandfield, this all day symposium had for ambition to take an in-depth critical look at illustration today. The all-mighty Adrian Shaughnessy was chair of the proceedings for the day. I understand Shaughnessy cofounded Varoom magazine and that it might be in this capacity that he was there on the day, but I still found his presence puzzling yet perhaps revealing about the status of illustration today? Could it be that the industry is still struggling with a widespread perception of it being an offshoot of graphic design? Surely there are illustrators of the status of Shaughnessy out there that would do just as much justice to the role of mediator for the talks?

On the programme were three questions; the first one “Is commerce the only real context for illustration?” was discussed by James Jarvis and Darryl Clifton. I found that particular exchange the most enlightening of the three, not least because of the well constructed Powerpoint presentation of Jarvis. “Illustrator as Author, new paradigm of the disciploine?” and “Do we need a theory of Illustration?” were respectively discussed by Luke Best with Roderick Mills and Sam Arthur and Geoff Grandfield. 

At £70, this event was a naughty treat that I thoroughly enjoyed. I guess Somerset House does not come cheap but my wish is for Mokita 2 to be more democratic and accessible to a wider audience. After all, the overriding thought of the day was for illustration to raise its profile and be on a par with photography in the mainstream British culture the way it is for the French. That said I enjoyed seeing some familiar faces there such as Gary Powell and Richard Harris, a former tutor of mine at Kingston University. 

Where were the girls? I am told Simone Lia dropped out. Why not replace her with another woman? It was a bit of a sausage fest on the day and one of the participants heckled: "It all looks rather 19th century to me!" After all, if the conference is to be a true window of the recent seismic changes within the industry, then it is only just to shed a light onto the vast amount of ladies working as illustrators. Geoff Granfield mentioned an agent told him 90% of illustration buyers are male... I’d love to meet that gentlemen and find out where he got his “facts”.

Dismomorphibia- Ted Talk

I am fascinated by people's faces. I find this talk interesting for its treatment of the psychologies of the face and its link with art as therapy.

Saving Grace- Work in Progress 2

Image courtesy of Valerie Pezeron. Copyright protected 2011. No reproductions without permission.

I intend to have this image included in my "Coffin Island" picture book. The final version will look quite different! We're gathering ideas away....

Saving Grace-Work in Progress

Image courtesy of Valerie Pezeron. Copyright protected. No reproductions without permission.

New York Exhibition

All images courtesy of Valerie Pezeron. Copyright protected. No reproduction without permission.

In January of this year, I took part in an exhibition at the Brownson Art Gallery, part of the Arthur M. Berger Art Gallery in New York. The group show was named Exhibit III and included artwork by faculty staff and students of Manhattanville college and the University of East London.

The artwork I had displayed were prints in progress from my book "Written by Men, Blame it on God" that I am developping with New Humanist and the Rationalist Association. Yes, the book is being developped and is coming along! Taking on the bible is a big job and one that I want to do well so I am taking my time.

I am quite happy with the results so far and am planning a cheap print run and a smaller one-off  handmade set of books for collectors to buy.

Blind but Seeing

Image courtesy of Valerie Pezeron. Copyright protected 2011. No reproductions without permission.

Image courtesy of Valerie Pezeron. Copyright protected 2011. No reproductions without permission.

I have used sculpture and clay to mold my own perceived flesh while blindfolded.The tactile experiement was also done while listening to music and tapping into my deepest thoughts.

Image courtesy of Valerie Pezeron. Copyright protected 2011. No reproductions without permission.

For facial surgeon Iain Hutchinson, it's about restoring people's humanities and I find that deeply moving. 

Image courtesy of Valerie Pezeron. Copyright protected 2011. No reproductions without permission.