Friday, December 20, 2013

Bright Night piece for .M Contemporary Gallery

What an incredible honour it was to be invited along with my other fellow Alexander Bander's and amazingly talented high profile South African illustrators to create a one-off print for the .M Contemporary group exhibition, "The Path Less Deconstructed" in Sydney, Australia, running from the 14th December 2013 to 1st February 2014. 

It is just incredible to think that a piece I created here in Cape Town, South Africa is not even on the same continent but elsewhere in the world!

Following is the piece I created, some detail shots as well as an artist's statement on what the piece is about - I hope you like!



For the topic of “ The Path Less Deconstructed”, I looked to that which inspires me most in my work and my analytical albeit playful nature, namely the city at night. I am fascinated by the architecture that can be found in my city: a contrasting mix of sleek modern and 18th century decorative buildings juxtaposed alongside each other, especially the patterns of windows, façade details and building shapes that become starker after dusk. At night in the city, there is an unspoken air of excitement – the feeling that the evening could take you on an adventure anywhere, never quite knowing what you may discover along the way. I see the city as a playground with the carousel as its whimsical heartbeat, the symbol of childhood dreams that never quite leave you; a place to be explored and re-explored, a place of great excitement, of intersecting lives and unlimited possibility. It is at night in the city that I feel most alive and most at home.

Some detail shots










Some pictures of the piece up at .M Contemporary






Many thanks to Emma Cook heading up Alexander's Band and .M Contemporary for organising such an amazing opportunity!

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

It's A Shape Christmas 2013

I was very honoured to be selected again to create a piece for this year's It's A Shape Christmas!

It's A Shape Christmas is an interactive advent calender, in which 25 creatives (illustrators, typographers, designers and photographers) are each given a particular shape to work with and give a Christmas slant to it. (I was given a pentagon to work with.) Each day a different creative's piece of work is revealed. There are iPhone and iPad downloads of each image for each day and there's also the option to donate some coinage before downloading to the Wood Street Mission, a Manchester based charity that helps and supports families, especially at Christmas time, so please support a good cause!

Yesterday was the reveal date for my submission! Here are a few detail shots of the final piece.





You can view the full piece online here at It's A Shape Christmas.

My submission for last year's It's A Shape Christmas can be seen here.