Yesterday I had the luxury of taking a day for myself to go to London. It's rare that I can go to art museums and galleries as it's not something my son is interested in yet. So I had one mission in mind - The House of Illustration, it's annual Summer Fair, and to see the finalist work from the World Illustration Awards.
The House of Illustration
This was my first visit to the HoI galleries, so I was quite excited to see what was there. I had earned myself free admission, by entering the John Vernon Lord in 2018, and luckily my name was still on the list! Inside I was greeted by a wonderful shop full of illustrated books, zines and paraphernalia. The gallery is smaller than I expected, with three galleries situated on the ground floor.
It did give it an intimate and boutique feeling, and a definite feel of essentialism. I first entered the Quentin Blake: From the Studio exhibition. This is a permanent space for the work of Quentin Blake, who is one of the founders of the Gallery. Having grown up with the illustrated works of Roald Dahl as formative experiences, I was enthralled to see his work up front. What was wonderful for me was that the work was contemporary. They were for recent our upcoming projects, so I could look on them with new eyes. I particularly enjoyed the large watercolour illustrations for the Moonlight Travellers. The sheets of paper were larger than I had expected and I loved how free the washes were. The paper was wrinkled and warped, and I loved how un-precious the artist was about this. It felt like he used it as a part of the anatomy of the work. The marks are free, loose, yet they felt like there was precision and intention behind them. It was very inspiring.
The second exhibition was "Rabbrexit Means Rabbrexit" by YiMiao Shih. This was in equal parts bemusing and hilarious. I enjoyed the satirical and whimsical takes on Brexit. By using the perspective of rabbits it helped to abstract the human element. The exhibition consisted of lots of different artefacts. I particularly liked the new 48 & 52 pence pieces and the sewn tapestry. It was really interesting to see illustration in so many different media. It made me think about the boundaries of what illustration actually is.
The final exhibition was Posy Simmonds: A Retrospective
I wasn't really aware of Posy Simmonds as an artist. I was really captivated by her work, but also the content of her work. She champions feminism, social justice and representation. I particularly liked her illustration that demonstrated the under-representation of women characters outside of a nice 20-30-year-old 'bombshell' window. Her latest graphic novel, whose central character is a 70-something art dealer really speaks to her drive to address that discrepancy and still tell compelling stories.
I found it really useful to see work-in-progress examples, and get some insight into her working process, and how she plays with fitting her text in, exploring layouts and alternative compositions.
House of Illustration Summer Fair
Next door to the gallery was the annual Summer Fair. As it's only open for one day, it was one of the specific reasons I had chosen to visit London. I love visiting illustration fairs, to get inspired by lots of different work. Given that I want to illustrate professionally, for me it was also market research, to try and get an understanding of what I might need to do, how people set out their stalls and how to make a good impact.
It was also an opportunity to visit the stall of one of my favourite artists, Dan Berry. Dan had fairly recently quit as a university tutor due to its effects on his health. I really wanted to support this move, so it was the least I could do to visit him and purchase his first self-published comic, "I'm on a boat". It'a great auto-biographical story about the events leading up to his decision to quit his job and go freelance. It's testament to his skills as a teacher, really: Even though the comic is a specific story, Dan manages to include observations and anecdotes and not only spoke to me, but were instructive. I learnt a lot from reading that little comic. I really hope his aspiration to teach more in his own way progresses; I would love to learn more from him. He also has a brilliant podcast focused on the creation and world of comics, you can find it at http://makeitthentelleverybody.com/. I support the podcast through his Patreon and I'd encourage you to do so too if you like the podcasts. They are great because they emphasise the huge world of comics that exists outside of the superhero-focused publishing houses.
The World Illustration Awards 2019
Every year the Association of Illustrators and the US-based Directory of Illustration team up to present and curate the World Illustration Awards. I first became aware of the awards last year in the run up to starting my degree, and managed to attend the award exhibition. It was a huge inspiration, and was a big influence in my decision to pursue a creative life and start my degree. So I couldn't resist attending again this year.
I love how the awards are split into categories, it really helps an aspiring illustrator like me understand the kind of work that exists in the different sectors. But they also have an Experimental category, which shows work by artists who are pushing the boundaries of what comprises illustration. I basically did two circuits of the exhibition. The first time I took my time to just absorb an enjoy the amazing artwork. I really love that they also include physical artefacts that the illustrations featured in. Seeing work in context as books, periodicals, posters, beer cans and stationery really raised my motivation. It made me feel that there was a way that I could influence the world.
The second circuit I spent time look for aspects, attributes or techniques that drew me in, or called to me somehow. I noticed where there were stylistic choices that were common, like noise/grain and gradients. I was conscious that these are on-trend - there is a place for them as they are commercial, but at the same time what happens when trends move on? What part of an artists's voice remains?
I wanted to get a sense of my own taste in the stylistic choices of other artists. My hypothesis is that these call to something of my own voice, so it may be a way to then experiment with those choices on my own, and see how they then influence my own work going forward. How could I tweak them for my own context?
One of the ideas I really liked was the self-initiated work by Ed Harrision called "Under the Skin" to highlight the plight of endangered animals. Ed uses a invisible florescent ink during the screen printing process to show the skeleton of the animal under UV light. I thought this was ingenious. The main images themselves exemplify simplicity, but I loved the idea of adding in hidden meaning and elements. Maybe putting in secrets into my work for people to find? Illustrative Easter Eggs.
Overall it was a great day, and hugely motivating. I have a lot to process, and I can't wait to see how all of this new information affects my work!
London & Partners (n.d.). The House of Illustration at dusk. [image] Available at: https://www.visitlondon.com/things-to-do/place/38802809-house-of-illustration [Accessed 14 Jul. 2019].
House of Illustration (2019). Moonlight Travellers illustration. [image] Available at: https://www.houseofillustration.org.uk/media/w580h500/events/moonlight-travellers-3-quentin-blake-1.jpg [Accessed 14 Jul. 2019].
House of Illustration (2019). Illustration of Rabbit Emergency Landing Instructions. [image] Available at: https://www.houseofillustration.org.uk/media/w580h500/events/detail-from-rabbit-exportation-artefact-collection-of-yimiao-shih-photo-by-justin-piperger.jpg [Accessed 14 Jul. 2019].
House of Illustration (2019). Cassandra Darke Illustration. [image] Available at: https://www.houseofillustration.org.uk/media/_source/events/cassandra-darke-finshed-illustration-2014-posy-simmonds.jpg [Accessed 14 Jul. 2019].
Association of Illustrators (2019). Under the Skin. [image] Available at: https://theaoi.com/wia/under-the-skin-under-the-skin-of-endangered-animals/ [Accessed 14 Jul. 2019].
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