I was contacted a while back by Don’t Panic who asked me to design a poster to go inside their free fortnightly packs that get distributed around the UK. And so, next month (August), if you pick up a Don’t Panic pack you’ll get your hands on my contribution to a long list of great posters designed by some great artists and illustrators. I was given the theme ‘Dark’, and here’s what I came up with.
As usual, you’ll be able to buy non-folded versions of the poster from their website if you want a slightly smarter version. If you consider yourself a poster connoisseur and a serious collector, I’ll be working with Don’t Panic on releasing this as their FIRST EVER limited screen print edition.
When I first moved to London around 11 years ago, I would be inspired by their free posters and would always have at least 1 or 2 stuck to my bedroom wall. So I’m really excited to be working with them now not only on my own poster, but their first ever screen printed edition.
I had news that the construction of my new studio in Brighton was finished so I excitedly got the train up there today to have a quick look. There’s something really inspiring about waking into an empty space like this, a blank canvas that’s waiting for you to move in and bring to life. Should hopefully be in there in the next couple of months. Woop!
If any of you cool kids are living in and around London Town, then you might want to get yourself over to Stolen Space Gallery tomorrow for the opening preview of their summer group show. I’ll have a little paper-cut piece on display amongst what will be a great collection of work by a great collection of artists.
My new print and painting edition ‘Alice‘ goes on sale at my store at 5pm BST tomorrow! They will also be available from the Dark Hall Mansion website. Visit my site or go directly to my store for full details.
The nice people at Dark Hall Mansion will also be giving away a signed artist proof from the special edition! All you need to do it visit their site and sign up to their mailing list, the 1st 500 people will be entered into a draw and a winner will be chosen at random.
Things have been pretty hectic lately so apologies for the lack of updates. Got quite a few things to post so will hopefully get round to that next week if I get a minute, including a Bunker interview with amazing comic artist Sam Hiti.
For now here are a few progress shots of a new print I’m working on with a new fine art/poster site based in the US called Dark Hall Mansions. Should be available by the end of the month.
This weeks lucky bunker is English illustrator and comic creator Jack Teagle. I first came across Jack’s work when I saw his awesome illustrations on a Daddy Donkey Mexican Food trailer in London. I just loved the colour, the humour, and could appreciate not only how much work had gone into it, but how much fun he obviously had in creating the illustrations.
I then discovered his awesome comic Jeff Job Hunter and from there, I became a fully paid member of the Jack Teagle fan club. Jeff’s quest to retrieve the ‘skull of the half man half beast from the dungeon of terror’ located under his Job Centre was a great short story told well and executed beautifully.
Images courtesy of Nobrow Press.
You may already recognise Jack’s illustration from his editorial work for various magazines but his acrylic paintings have been doing the rounds online lately too. Like many of us, he’s a child of the Star Wars generation and the themes that run through his paintings have so much great nostalgia to them.
Anyway, I’ve rambled enough. Please join me in welcoming Mr Jack Teagle to The Bunker!
TB: We can allow you access to 1 music video. What will it be?
JT: I don’t think I can pick just one, but I know it would have to be a Chris Cunningham video.
TB: There is room on the wall for 1 piece of art. What would you like?
JT: Mr Gauld beat me to the punch with Bosch. Something equally as packed (I’d feel like I was cheating a little and having lots of paintings crammed into one). Ape Worship by Todd Schorr. That piece is amazing! The frame for it is a work of art in itself.
TB: There is a small bookshelf with room for 1 book. What will it be?
JT: Admittedly I’m not a big reader. I try to read when I have the time, but it’s not very often. I think it would be Tiny Deaths by Robert Shearman. My girlfriend put me onto this book and it’s amazing. It’s a collection of short stories set around a dull english setting, but they all have these slightly strange elements or twists to them. It has a great sense of humour and it’s right up my street.
TB: You’re allowed 1 film. What will you watch?
JT: Probably Gozu or Mullholland Drive, I never get bored of them. There are so many layers to them that you can pick up on new things everytime you watch too. I love the atmosphere in each too.
There’s no decent trailer vids around for Mullholland Drive and Gozu is a little NSFW so here’s a little clip of the brilliant David Lynch talking about ideas and Mullholland Drive.
TB: There are bunk beds inside the room. Who gets the other bed, and which bunk would you like?
JT: My girlfriend. We already live in a bunker like environment in our small studio, and she’s usually the only contact I will have in a few days if I’m working through a project. She’s still with me, so I know I won’t drive her crazy with my conversation.
TB: You’re allowed 1 small treasured item. What is it?
JT: BATMAN TALKING ALARM CLOCK! It’s a little battered but it’s well loved. Plus I’d know what time it was.
TB: We’ve managed to get you a CD player. What album would you like?
JT: Unknown pleasures by Joy Division. It never gets old. I can listen to it again and again and again.
TB: We are willing to cook you 1 meal of your choice on your first night in The Bunker. What would you like?
JT: Could I make a big thing out of it and have a starter? If I could I’d have potato skins with cheese and for the main I’d have the best BBQ ribs. I can’t remember the name of this amazing raspberry pudding I had at a party, it was kind of soft and creamy, if I knew what it was, I’d definitely have that.
TB: All inhabitants of The Bunker MUST have their memories of Old Earth erased. However, we will allow you a single memory of your old life. What will it be?
JT: Probably a christmas from when I was about 10. It’s when I’d see almost all of my family, and I used to get extremely excited about presents. I used to make everyone really dorky pop-up christmas cards. I remember when I was 10 the second wave of Kenner Star Wars toys were coming out, so I was massively excited about getting some of that.
TB: We can project a view of your choice onto the Window Screen. What would you like to look at?
JT: The view from my bedroom window, it looks out over the countryside into a field with a huge tree. I think having something green and calm would keep me sane.
Thank you for your co-operation. We will do our best to satisfy your needs and we wish you a pleasant stay in The Bunker.
The Bunker Administration Team.
If you’re in Dublin, or even if you’re not, you have 2 days left to catch Jack’s solo show ‘That’s Life’ at The R.A.G.E.
You can also see more of his great work at his website and his blog. Check it!
I while back I was given 10 pine bricks to do ‘something’ with. That something had to relate in some way to the word ‘confession’, so here’s what I did.
The words etched in are latin for the 7 deadly sins, and I added 3 more of my own to make it up to 10. You can see some of the original drawings for the screen printed demons in an earlier post here.
These bricks will be part of an upcoming show I don’t want to reveal too much about, but there will be bricks on show from other artists such as D*Face, Eine, Hush, Paul Insect, Sickboy and others.
I love the precision and detail I can get from shooting with my Nkon D90 DSLR but at the same time, I love throwing caution to the wind and shooting from the hip with either my Lomo LC-A+ or Diana F+ cameras. I haven’t used my Diana that much and, as you can see, I’m still trying to get to grips with the focus, but I still love the feeling of some of the out of focus shots. It’s nice to take a break from the settings of a digital and enjoy the unpredictability of the Lomo cameras.
I’ve just a few rolls developed that have been hanging around in the fridge for the last year (it always takes me ages to get round to having them developed) and here are a few randoms. I can’t remember which films I used so I really need to start getting a system for making note of what’s been used when. If anyone has any cool tips for this please feel free to leave a comment!
Playing with Double exposure as we drive up the East Coast of Australia.
Taking refuge from the apocalypse in The Bunker this week is one of my all time absolute favourite illustrators, Tom Gauld. Glancing quickly at one of Tom’s illustrations you may be fooled into thinking that there’s not much going on, both in content and style. But it doesn’t take long to discover that there’s so much work crammed within those deceptively simple looking panels. Not one line looks out of place as the scenes he creates are crammed full of life, intrigue, emotion but most of all humour and imagination.
His work is good for the soul, a safe place you can visit and loose yourself amidst the solitude of rusting robots and lonely Kings. I’ve been a big fan for many years now and out of the countless comic strips and drawings I’ve seen of Tom’s, not 1 has failed to make me smile, and I think that’s incredible. Without further ado, tis my honour to welcome the simply brilliant Tom Gauld to The Bunker.
TB: We can allow you access to 1 music video. What will it be?
TG: Anything by Gorillaz.
TB: There is room on the wall for 1 piece of art. What would you like? TG: The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymous Bosch.
TB: There is a small bookshelf with room for 1 book. What will it be?
TG: The Inheritors by William Golding.
TB: You’re allowed 1 film. What will you watch?
TG: 2001 (This was a tough one but in the end I chose this as I didn’t want to upset Stanley – see below).
TB: There are bunk beds inside the room. Who gets the other bed, and which bunk would you like?
TG: Stanley Kubrick. I’d like the top bunk, but I’d probably let Stanley choose.
TB: You’re allowed 1 small treasured item. What is it?
TG: Reproduction Lewis-chess-set King which my Dad gave me.
TB: We’ve managed to get you a CD player. What album would you like?
TG: Silver Jews: Bright Flight.
A popular choice but videos are hard to come by. You can watch the video for Tennessee also chosen by last weeks Bunker Andy Smith by clicking here.
TB: We are willing to cook you 1 meal of your choice on your first night in The Bunker. What would you like?
TG: Champagne and oysters. Then roast beef, yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes and parsnips, peas, gravy. Followed by trifle.
TB: All inhabitants of The Bunker MUST have their memories of Old Earth erased. However, we will allow you a single memory of your old life. What will it be?
TG: Swimming in the river on a hot day when I was about 8.
TB: We can project a view of your choice onto the Window Screen. What would you like to look at?
TG: New York from the 50th floor.
Tom’s new screen print ‘Plan for a Gigantic Robot’ is available to buy at his website and don’t forget you can enjoy his work every saturday in The Guardian Review. He also has a great flickr page where you can see lots of other drawings including scanned pages from his sickeningly beautiful sketchbook.
This is my very own Tom Gauld original that I’m incredibly happy to own, because I’m a nerd like that.
Come back next week when I’ll be sharing baked beans with another of my favourite creative types in…THE BUNKER! Thanks for reading!
