"I Wonder.."
"I wish I was Audrey Hepburn"
I have just had my first two designs approved and am now a seller on envelop!! You can head on over and buy some cool tote bags now:
http://www.envelop.eu/shop/designers/p/detail/tommy-eugene-higson
Sunday 25 October 2009
Envelop
"I Wonder.."
"I wish I was Audrey Hepburn"
I have just had my first two designs approved and am now a seller on envelop!! You can head on over and buy some cool tote bags now:
http://www.envelop.eu/shop/designers/p/detail/tommy-eugene-higson
Thursday 22 October 2009
Cut-Click
I have work in the new issue (13: Text), a couple of pieces from my first zine Celebrity and it's the only place you will find the images with the text online! You want more? You will have to buy a copy! Cut-Click is free for download at this link:
http://www.cut-click.co.uk/
I was also very happy to find that I was sharing the issue with Simon Corry as well as some other cool kids I have just discovered! Check it out.
http://www.cut-click.co.uk/
I was also very happy to find that I was sharing the issue with Simon Corry as well as some other cool kids I have just discovered! Check it out.
Friday 16 October 2009
Michael Dhillon's The Cuckoo Parchment and the Dyke review
The Cuckoo Parchment and the Dyke paints a fictitious reality lived by thousands of artists, the romantic; drinking, whoring, seclusion and strife to change the world. Very real current issues are raised pertaining to the purpose and functionality of art and its omnipotence, the importance of artist popularity and misinterpretation, the brutality of sensationalism and the violence of revolution via extremes akin to that of Watchmen or V for Vendetta. Michael Dhillon's adventure excites and grips as it unfolds and tangles you in its complexity of issues, what should an artist be? what will someone do to be remembered? how complicated is morality?
Tuesday 13 October 2009
inkygoodness 3: Wonderland Review
Felt Mistress & Jonathan Edwards. Courtesy: inkygoodness.
David Shillinglaw. Courtesy: inkygoodness.
Vaad Gallery, Birmingham
12 - 27 September 2009
So I enter the gallery and my senses overload, I spot a tree with multicoloured leaves crushing a poor bird superhero/villain, spilling his Wonderland pills (Rainbow Drops) over the floor, the DJ's instrumental beats sound out across the room, I turn around and people are chalking away at one of the walls; characters, pattern and words encompass everything whilst one of the artists Moot is painting and doodling a board installation nearby, not until I am almost on top of it do I notice the goodies stall with books, prints, posters, t-shirts, zines and toys, my mind must be elsewhere, maybe it's the film crew, or maybe it's the drawings, inks, prints, and paintings of animals, people, cartoons and creatures that cluster around, and down every wall, and the space is huge, this is going to be fun.
Wonderland is the third exhibition staged by inkygoodness (illustrators Lisa Hassell and Michelle Turton) who work to provide a platform for emerging and established illustrators, artists, designers and crafters to exhibit together creating networking and professional development opportunities. It also thus works as an instrument to chronicle a fairly new movement of contemporary image makers; showing new work and innovations from new people, how established makers are developing and their influence on new practices.
One of the things that first hits you looking around the show is the familiarity you feel, the sense that you've seen people like George Mitchell and Rainbow Donkeys somewhere before, and you probably have; on flyers and posters, in magazine and comics, in shops, the list goes on. The self promotion of these makers is key to their renown and takes many forms from obvious influences like Keith Haring, Takashi Murakami and David Shrigley. What is important is how few of these practitioners seem to draw any kind of differentiation between their illustrative and design practices and their gallery work. It is not something which develops with their practice it is a given, why should a design for someone dictate not working like yourself and so why therefore should working with global brands be a bad thing?
The show is filled with such a wide variety of gems and jewels that there is something to entertain and enthrall everyone. Felt Mistress contributes some crazy half-bred animal characters with Jonathan Edwards' painting accompaniments. Steve Rack's characters represent something of a more fruity yet somehow more human set of Mr Men and Women. A giant wall painting from David Shillinglaw covers half the end wall and combines illustrational and graffiti techniques to create a large fellow filled and surrounded with pattern and obscure cultural references from cLOUDDEAD and Sole to Milk and Big Foot, a great analogy for this movement.
Other stand-outs include Lisa Hassell and Kate Hindley and their intricate, colour filled, patternful worlds. Simon Wild and Mark Wilkinson and their new art historical Cubist, Mexican, African, graffiti, design, illustration works. Moot's incorporation of graffiti into a more traditional painting practice and it actually working and coffee stain painted portraits from Adi Gilbert carried out with fantastic execution. Not to mention Gemma Correll who is always entertaining and Juan Salas' ink drawings and one particular work depicting a frog and young girl playing leapfrog.
It is unfortunate that the show is plagued by some nagging annoyances. One thing that stands out is some over-reliance on tired source material such as Super Mario backdrops, clouds, arrows, buildings and cities. Like Micropop the work is still the same quirky, vivid, electric work that excited you in the first place but in places it seems a little stale. There is still life in these icons and symbols however as Simon David Mills demonstrates, but innovation is required.
It is also a shame how some work imitates others work, Jon Burgerman and David Shrigley being the main victims of this. Showing influence is one thing but replication does not continue any kind of critical debate and therefore does not develop a movement or continue and allow for new conversation.
Other problems are minor, it would have been nice to see text and installation have a bit more presence and an animation or two wouldn't have gone a miss. I also feel the range of subjects could have poked somewhere a bit more beyond the aesthetic. The other minor problem is the lack of professional presentation of some work, crumpled paper and colour print outs on poor quality paper is not of a professional standard but understandably for some practitioners this is a first time exhibiting and like I said, these problems are minor.
Overall this is a great, great show, there is some fantastic and important work from some established and new makers and this movement is still in its early days so there is more to come, I don't think I will be disappointed and I can't see how anyone could leave this exhibition without a smile on their face.
Wonderland is the third exhibition staged by inkygoodness (illustrators Lisa Hassell and Michelle Turton) who work to provide a platform for emerging and established illustrators, artists, designers and crafters to exhibit together creating networking and professional development opportunities. It also thus works as an instrument to chronicle a fairly new movement of contemporary image makers; showing new work and innovations from new people, how established makers are developing and their influence on new practices.
One of the things that first hits you looking around the show is the familiarity you feel, the sense that you've seen people like George Mitchell and Rainbow Donkeys somewhere before, and you probably have; on flyers and posters, in magazine and comics, in shops, the list goes on. The self promotion of these makers is key to their renown and takes many forms from obvious influences like Keith Haring, Takashi Murakami and David Shrigley. What is important is how few of these practitioners seem to draw any kind of differentiation between their illustrative and design practices and their gallery work. It is not something which develops with their practice it is a given, why should a design for someone dictate not working like yourself and so why therefore should working with global brands be a bad thing?
The show is filled with such a wide variety of gems and jewels that there is something to entertain and enthrall everyone. Felt Mistress contributes some crazy half-bred animal characters with Jonathan Edwards' painting accompaniments. Steve Rack's characters represent something of a more fruity yet somehow more human set of Mr Men and Women. A giant wall painting from David Shillinglaw covers half the end wall and combines illustrational and graffiti techniques to create a large fellow filled and surrounded with pattern and obscure cultural references from cLOUDDEAD and Sole to Milk and Big Foot, a great analogy for this movement.
Other stand-outs include Lisa Hassell and Kate Hindley and their intricate, colour filled, patternful worlds. Simon Wild and Mark Wilkinson and their new art historical Cubist, Mexican, African, graffiti, design, illustration works. Moot's incorporation of graffiti into a more traditional painting practice and it actually working and coffee stain painted portraits from Adi Gilbert carried out with fantastic execution. Not to mention Gemma Correll who is always entertaining and Juan Salas' ink drawings and one particular work depicting a frog and young girl playing leapfrog.
It is unfortunate that the show is plagued by some nagging annoyances. One thing that stands out is some over-reliance on tired source material such as Super Mario backdrops, clouds, arrows, buildings and cities. Like Micropop the work is still the same quirky, vivid, electric work that excited you in the first place but in places it seems a little stale. There is still life in these icons and symbols however as Simon David Mills demonstrates, but innovation is required.
It is also a shame how some work imitates others work, Jon Burgerman and David Shrigley being the main victims of this. Showing influence is one thing but replication does not continue any kind of critical debate and therefore does not develop a movement or continue and allow for new conversation.
Other problems are minor, it would have been nice to see text and installation have a bit more presence and an animation or two wouldn't have gone a miss. I also feel the range of subjects could have poked somewhere a bit more beyond the aesthetic. The other minor problem is the lack of professional presentation of some work, crumpled paper and colour print outs on poor quality paper is not of a professional standard but understandably for some practitioners this is a first time exhibiting and like I said, these problems are minor.
Overall this is a great, great show, there is some fantastic and important work from some established and new makers and this movement is still in its early days so there is more to come, I don't think I will be disappointed and I can't see how anyone could leave this exhibition without a smile on their face.
Celebrity zine
My first zine Celebrity zine is on sale now for just one pound and fifty pence, click on the picture below to head to the online shop:
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