'Wrapping up.. '

For a person who isn't overly festive I always enjoy the downward slope of the end of a year and the revelry that then ensues.  My enthusiasm lies as much within its numerical connotations as the celebratory ones.. the first day of the first month of a fresh year always feels strangely cathartic. (Naturally these numbers need to be digested with a few too many glasses of something.. )

Fellow artist Sophie Smallhorn surpassed herself once again with her Christmas card and a recently commissioned mobile piece for Fourth Floor salon. The card is a jarring pink & red composition which I couldn't wait to pop up, smack bang above the citrusy yellow cube print of a few years previous.  Enjoy her newly updated website here.

Above is a mountain refuge constructed from recycled materials, designed by Chilean architect Smiljan Radic. I'm not sure if its the daffodil yellow frame work encapsulating it's huge glass walls or the boxy almost formal windows along one side that delight me more.  Or just all that gorgeous yellow..  to inhabit a construction like this will be on my resolution list for many years to come for sure.

'Show Down'

It was a busy final day at Stourspace yesterday which left quite an impressive visitors list, with folk   travelling from as far Oxford.. !  James & I dismantled our wares this morning & bid our farewells with the agreement that 'Press&Pull 3' would happen sooner rather than in 2018, marking the 5 years that have passed since our original 'Press&Pull' Show.. #youheardithearfirst

     BIG thanks to Ren & Jack of 'Threefold Architects' for their Press & Pull2 purchase & allowing me

     free rein on their framing, beautifully constructed at S'Graffiti's, Stoke Newington N16.

Preview Night

  A BIG thank you to everybody that made the big schlep East.. very much appreciated..

 

All photographs by Stourspace.

'New prints at Stour Space from Nov 7th - Dec 2nd'

Press&Pull 2 at Stour Space / Open everyday / Until December 2nd 2013.

                                     

Fifteen days to go..

#Gulp.

'Press&Pull 2'

Fellow Printmaker James Brown & myself have finally gotten round to our next installment of 'Press & Pull', just the five years later.. Please join us for first Thursdays on November 7th at Stour Space for our Preview night. Rsvp here.

Sections of Gold..

You can't beat a two day workshop in The Golden Section, (with a bit of colour theory thrown in) & a group of Year 6 kids to completely rejuvenate ones creative mind!  Thanks to more team work with Sophie Smallhorn we left to the sound of the 3:45pm bell, exhausted but inspired.  Cheers kids, : )

  

   

'Ghana Must Go',

I often admire Richard Bravery's creative direction over the many jackets he has worked on at Penguin. 'Ghana Must Go' by Taiye Selasi gave us an opportunity to work together.  Many ideas were employed diverting us down a variety of routes. Starting with Ghanese florals, then adding in female silhouettes, next snapshots of New York, butterflies, simple block patterns & finally the colours & structure of African fabrics.  The narrative crosses continents and generations with a powerful and emotive text to boot.  After all that it went in a different direction not involving my prints at all.  Pah!

Black Magic..

Came across this again today, was rather fond of it at the time.. pity they weren't!

'Franco & Treen'

I've been pretty obsessed with my lovely friend Donna's family albums since a visit to her Grandma Nelda's house in Crespano, Italy, back in nineteen ninety something.  Many pictures document the early romance of her folks Franco & Treen.. her Mum's penchant for a fabulous outfit accessorised to the hilt, teamed up with her Dads square shoulders & thick wavy locks make many of their photographs reminiscent of a vintage shoot from Vogue magazine.  They also provide me with a heap of creative fodder to get my mits on..

Currently drying..

     .. the beginnings of "Press & Pull 2" with James Brown, Private View November 7th.  More info soon.

'New York Flagship..'

                         

I am fortunate to have many creative friends.. really clever ones, whose work, ideas and commitment still continues to surprise & excite me.  Bevan is one of these sorts, working as one half of the Creative Director team for atelier Anya Hindmarch.  I met him back in our old studio building, pre heating and reliable electricity.  After a few years freelancing as 'Before After', they (himself & his creative partner Matt) opted for a  proper job, kicking the perils of self employment to the kerb & swiftly settling in to their subsequent new role as Creative Directors.  Years later his perpetual enthusiasm and joy for his work never disappoints.  When he approached me to silkscreen forty odd miniature bag portraits for a subsequent store opening I almost didn't realise his vision.  On seeing the beautiful stills below of Anya Hindmarch's  American flagship Store in New York today, I wonder how my thoughts ever veered off.  Well done you!

Designed by interior architect  Ilse Crawford

Studio Light, 18:15.

 

'Cheating', John Newman

John Newman's second single 'Cheating' is due for release October 7th.  In preparation I worked on three silkscreened colour variations of a beautiful photograph by the very talented Daniel Thomas Smith.  Below are the two that didn't make the edit.. 

 

Art Direction 'Big Active'

'East London Mobile Workshop'

Curated by long time faves Nousvous, I was approached to be one of a handful of resident artists on E.L.M.O, the East London Mobile Workshop.  In conjunction with Studio Weave (the genius behind 'Ecology of Colour') and alongside Fiona Boundy of Artlands Trust, a vintage bus was transformed into the most perfect mobile studio.  Neatly positioned outside Walthamstows William Morris Gallery, Morris's own ethos that Art should be for All, fuelled our daily workshops.  

"I don't want art for a few, any more than education for a few or freedom for a few.. what business have we with art unless we can all share it?".

Assisted by the technical & creative talent of Thomas Murphy, a whole load of printing went on involving local residents, passers by & day-trippers.  Each day saw us up our creative antics, experimenting with colour blends, multi-layering and metallic inks using pre-exposed screens of disparate text and imagery.  You can see a selection of the resulting collaborative prints above and below.

'Wired US'

Here's a few snaps (at various stages) of a recent editorial commissioned by Wired magazine..  Unfortunately it ended up in the can.. : (

'Lolita'

Architect John Bertram & author Yuri Leving's passion for Lolita collectively created 'Loloita, Story of a Cover Girl'.

Vladimir Nabokov's Novel in Art and Design reconsiders the cover of Lolita. Eighty renowned  graphic designers and illustrators (including Paula Scher, Jessica Hische, Jessica Helfand, and Peter Mendelsund) offer their own takes on the book's jacket, while graphic-design critics and Nabokov scholars survey more than half a century of Lolita covers.

Through the lenses of design and literature, Lolita - The Story of a Cover Girl tells the strange design history of one of the most important novels of the 20th century--and offers a new way for thinking visually about difficult books. Available to buy here.

Below, Mark Melnick

'Sophie Smallhorn'

Not content with wrapping a gift so choicely for me of late, Sophie Smallhorn also wrapped our very own Olympic Stadium last year.  Her fetish for colour extends from her succinct bold silkscreens on paper to an exceptional ribbon collection, with many sculptural pieces alongside.  Shortly her website will showcase a new & rather unusual site specific piece for the Fourth Floor Salon.  Well worth an early haircut for a quicker preview!  See more of her wonderful work here.