'In Praise of Folly' Desiderius Erasmus

This Summer I worked on the design and illustration for a hardback Folio edition of 'In Praise of Folly' written in 1512 by Desiderius Erasmus, a humanist thinker and social commentator. It has just been published, and today I received the finished item! Below are four of the nine inside illustrations: 'Folly of Superstition', 'Folly of Fools', 'Portrait of Folly' and 'Folly's Family Tree'. More information about the book and the project are on the Folio website.

The greatest of humanist scholars, Desiderius Erasmus was one of the men who ushered in the Renaissance. The leading intellectual of his era, today his most popular work is In Praise of Folly, a satire that even at its most biting is animated by a warm and lively wit. ‘In Praise of Folly is both the most notorious and in some ways the most characteristic work of the greatest European intellectual of the sixteenth century’  Eamon Duffy

Varoom Magazine Issue 26 - 'Style'

Pleased to have my work on and in the latest issue of 'Varoom', edited by John O'Reilly, which unpicks that thorny word 'style'.  I am included in an article by by Adrian Holme,  'The Contradictions of Style' using work I produced for the V&A to illustrate his argument. Here's an excerpt:

'The conscious play with style (...)  has a long history, and is apparent in, for example, Mannerism, Rococo, Art Nouveau. It is a hall mark of Post-Modernism of course (think of Memphis furniture design). However, playing with style in no way escapes style.  A collage such as Matthew Richardson’s produced for the V&A, reveals some of the complexities and contradictions of style. His work skilfully appropriates source materials (each with a specific and identifiable origin), in order to build something new to effectively communicate an idea. Richardson himself explains  that he is interested in a utilitarian use and play of images as ‘signs’ and does not set out to create ‘style’ per se.'

Link to my webpage with images for V&A 
Link to Varoom Magazine

Illustrations for 'Hardanger' by Alison Moore

Illustrations for 'Hardanger', a short story by Alison Moore, published by Illustrated London News in AM Magazine. The narrative is a contemporary re-casting of a Norwegian folk story. 'But later, when they were back at the cabin and they looked at the photos, there were only the mountains, the hard, dark lines of two imposing mountains with a V of sky between them, and in the foreground, where the four of them ought to have been, there was nothing but the Hardangerfjord. Alison Moore’s novel, The Lighthouse, was shortlisted for the 2012 Man Booker Prize.

'The Second Doctor Service' By Daniel Mason

I recently illustrated a short story by Daniel Mason titled 'The Second Doctor Service' - mysterious and superbly crafted for Harper's Magazine in New York. (One of my all time favourire literary magazines).

Set in Edwardian Boston, the story plays with ideas of time slippage and 'the doppelganger': 'Or was he I, divided? A cutting? Which, cleaved from the stock, goes on to send forth its own roots? Or the corybantic twitching of a severed lizards tail, which eventually grows still? Were my memories his? What happens, Sirs, to the soul of the sea cucumber, when the sea cucumber is cut in two?' Daniel Mason is the author of The Piano Tuner (2002) and A Far Country (2007).

More Than Honey: V&A Awards 2014

Chuffed to have been shortlisted for the V&A Illustration Awards 2014. with this image. Numerous colonies of bees have been decimated throughout the world - described as 'colony collapse disorder'. It is argued that this is attributed to aspects of highly industrialised and mechanised practises of bee management. Domesticated bees are sick and dying. Only killer bees are thriving and scientists believe that by cross-breeding they could be used to bolster  the immune systems of the sickening Western Honey Bee.

The Poetry Society 2014

Just finished working with The Poetry Society on new imagery for 2014. Judges for the 2014 National Poetry Competition are Roddy Lumsden, Glyn Maxwell and Zoë Skoulding.  Enter here Last year there was an 'NPC on tour' around the world (vitual and actual). My image travelled to the Berlin Wall, the Statue of Liberty, and was taken by, among others, John Hegley, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Lord Lucan (?!) Here's a link to those images. 

L'art est pas art

Clerkenwell Post

I was commissioned by designers, Cai & Kym to work on a cover for the 'Clerkenwell Post' - about 
the design and craft heritage of London EC1. The image is a tribute piece to William Caslon, the father of fonts and the printing industry that is such n important part of Clerkenwell's 
history.

Heart Website update

My biog on Heart website (my agent) has been updated.

'Prince Igor' ENO April 1-5

I was commissioned by Beam to provide imagery for the Russian Opera 'Prince Igor' by Alexander Borodin now being performed by Novaya Opera at the ENO April 1-5. The production is part of the UK-Russia Year of Culture. The golden image portrays the conflicted 'Prince Igor' caught between two worlds: Old Russia and the Polovtsians. Although well known in Russia (at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, passages of 'Prince Igor' were played) the opera is rarely performed in Britain. Conductor: Jan Latham-Koenig, 
Stage Direction: Yuri Alexandrov, 
Set and Costume Designer: Vyacheslav Okunev. Graphic design: Beam.

'Ministry of Technology' Mobile Cinema

Last Summer I came across Oliver Halls in Devon, who has restored a Mobile Cinema Van and is touring schools, communities and coastal areas showing historic footage of local News. The cinema seats about 20. The van is incredible - the front glass turret like something borrowed from a WW2 Flying Fortress Bomber. These Bedford vans were originally ordered by the UK's (Orwellian sounding) 'Ministry of Technology'. The vans toured factories to 'educate' workers on the wonders of new materials and industrial processes. There is a great article with a lot of information, on the ever great BLDGBLOG