House of Fairy Tales exhibition

everything is for sale! proceeds go to the House of Fairy Tales, which is an arts-based education project by Deborah Curtis & Gavin Turk. Candlelit Matinée (see below) is one of their ventures promoting arts-based entertainment for youngsters...

drawing room outing

we'll be representing in our own morbidly decadent section of this extravaganza - come and check out what the youth are up to and of course hang out with us and do a bit of drawing... entry fee up to you (donations only)

party in Berlin!

should you find yourself in Berlin on these dates why not party like there's no tomorrow? 

all being well I'll also be doing some visuals at this 48-hour bash in a Berlin brewery...

Pentti & Deathgirl! a quick review!

been extremely busy, and dashing abroad a little bit etc etc but having just read this book I had to take a minute to mention it: Pentti & Deathgirl, a brilliant book comprising of two graphic stories written and drawn by the excellent Emma Rendel. Emma's been publishing stuff for ages - self-publishing zines and slimline books, contributing short graphic stories to Le Gun magazine etc - until Jonathan Cape recognised a great opportunity, and Pentti & Deathgirl is the result (she's actually also about to publish another book in Sweden).
I was slightly worried about reading it because as a friend and fan I knew my expectations would be high and was afraid I might not like it, or even 'not like it that much' - but as it turned out I enjoyed it so much I keep picking it up to have another look all the time...

Pentti is a story about this brutal Finnish farmer who lives with his brother and can only act on his desire to be physically close to other men by picking fights with them at the local bar and beating them up. Deathgirl is an outsider at school who records her violent thoughts and hopes and day-to-day activities in her diary. 
With her particular sense for satire, Emma combines the naïve and seemingly innocent with despair and ultraviolence, and the result actually makes a strong comment on the issues at hand but delivers it in such a subtle and funny way it seems hard to argue. 
The artwork is beautiful and the visual storytelling brilliant, especially in Pentti, and I really love the use of colour, and the unpredictability of the narrative. And of course Emma's deadpan sense of humor is very present throughout (both in the pictures and the words) and had me laughing out loud again and again.
I can kind of see why people might be divided over this book, simply because it doesn't immediately fit into an obvious niche. It's not a pretty looking 'alternative' comic about being bored in the suburbs, the style probably doesn't adhere to the five generic styles (Marvel etc/BDs/Burns/Hergé/even the 'wilder' L'Association) people seem to expect from a graphic novel, and the feel-good factor isn't immediately apparent with both stories dealing with such awkward subjects and characters. But I think that if you're looking for engaging graphic stories skillfully told that will make you laugh and think and want to revisit their strange little world, this book is a wise investment.

Austin Underground Film

Here's a little poster I did for the Austin Underground Film Festival. The program sounds really good so check it out should you find yourself in the Texan vicinity!

nine ladies dancing

this was my contribution to studio 8's charity christmas exhibition and sale on december 3rd. Each poster was a line from the twelve days of christmas, and I'd picked "nine ladies dancing".
For the whole 12 days - some of the posters are still up for grabs, as are Christmas card sets of all 12 - look here, and definitely check out the excellent (left to right) Chris Bianchi's "ten lords a-leaping", Bill Bragg's "eleven pipers piping" and Robert Greene's "twelve drummers drumming" (we'd picked these randomly and only realised on the night they'd obviously all be next to each other).

more BBC fun

haven't updated anything in ages - been very busy and then ill... This was up on the BBC website in early december and still up on the iplayer now.

Casablanca!

this time The Drawing Room has become slightly more glam as we've been invited by the excellent Josh to drink'n'draw at this fabulous night - just dress to impress (see dress code) and bring your drawing supplies. Yes it's on a saturday evening, but the good news is you'll be brilliantly attired for the rest of saturday night, flatteringly flushed with excitement and slight inebriation, plus those ink stains and paint smudges will make you look mysterious and interesting and attract handsome strangers like flies to cream cakes.

BTW - although billed as "stoke newington airport" the Drawing Room still is a georgiaJ/stephvr production.

(dress code small print says: Fez's, white tuxedos, bow ties, patent leather shoes, MuMus, Daishikis, zig zags, sequins, Dutch batiks, Cossak pants, fedoras, boleros, turkish slippers, ballet shoes, bangles, beads, smoking jackets, wedge espadrilles, satin playsuits, silk pyjamas, or your own effortless style as long as it's très chic!)

Opium Magazine

page (left) in issue 7 of opium magazine, part of the McSweeney stable - image on the right is by Art Spiegelman

sweet charity! 3rd december

PoCom at the ICA

Bill Bragg organised this year's 'PoCom' (potential comics) at comICA, the annual comic extravaganza at the Institute of Contemporary Art. He wrote a complete graphic story, then handed single panels of it to a whole variety of graphic artists who spun their own stories using the panels as staring points. You can admire the web of stories in a long corridor at the ICA till November 26 - it makes for fascinating reading and the bar is at the end of it!



artists involved: Bill Bragg, Hiroshi Kariya, Emma Rendel and Matt, Russell Weekes, Walter Newton, Tobi Tak, Becky Barnicoat, Les Coleman, Chris Bianchi, Matilda Tristram, Mark Ciavola, Neal Fox, Rachel Gannon, Fumie Kamijo, Chloe Regan, Mireille Fauchon, Astrid Chesney, Tom Idon'tactuallyknowhislastname, Daniel Merlin Goodbrey, (at least) two other people whose name I unfortunately don't recall at all, and myself... here's two of my panels

Drawing islands at Parasol Unit on 30 Oct

LE GUN did a night of drawing at Parasol Unit, as part of Charles Avery's exhibition 'The Islanders'. He has created his own imaginary island, a strange hybrid of Scotland and Egypt, and made drawings and sculptures of its inhabitants. We had a go at drawing our own island next door. Members of the great unwashed came and joined in with the drawing to a soundtrack of sea shanties, whale music and Chris Rea.


(Luc Barbute in action!)