Shakespeare and Company

I am delighted to announce that some of my laser-cut books (Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Dracula's Crossing) work will hit the shelves at  Shakespeare and Company in Paris, just in time for Christmas.

Shakespeare and Co is an independent book store in the heart of Paris specialising in literature in the English language - more on Shakespeare and Company here

Small Publishers Book Fair 2013

A quiet moment from last month's Small Publishers Book Fair at Conway Hall in London:

Coming soon - Small Publishers Book Fair 2013

On Friday 15th and Saturday 16th of November I will be at Conway Hall in London with Artists Books Online for this years Small Publishers Book Fair.
Entry is free
For more info visit http://smallpublishersfair.co.uk/

By Leaves We Live: Scottish Poetry Library artists book fair

A couple of photos of my work at the By Leaves We Live book fair at the Scottish Poetry Library on October 26th 2013... 

The girl with the peacock tattoo

This illustration was a very specific commission for a tattoo design.  The client was looking for an art-nouveau, Aubrey Beardsley inspired design of a peacock with its tail out.  The peacock also needed to be symmetrical, and it had to be in black and white only.

Above was the result and below are some details from the main image...

            

England's green and pleasant land

This is one of a few pieces of artwork I did for Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club's upcoming production of Jerusalem by Jez Butterworth.  The play is on from Tuesday 22nd until Saturday 26th of October 2013 at the ADC Theatre in Cambridge.

  

From ADC Theatre's website:

Sex, drugs and trance music. That’d be village gala day.

Gala queen Phaedra is missing. Troy, Phaedra’s stepfather, suspects that the anarchist, waster and ex-daredevil motorcyclist Johnny ‘Rooster’ Byron is involved. At the same time, Rooster is being evicted from his illegally parked mobile home in the woods next to the new estate. But Rooster is in good spirits. Providing safety for outcasts and eccentrics, he enthrals with stories of ancient myth and forest sprites. He may even be one. He is also an absentee father, has violent episodes and likes young girls.

Fast, funny and sexy, and crafted with deep intelligence and insight, Jerusalem is the ‘instant modern classic’ (The Telegraph), a vision of contemporary England that galvanised critics from London to New York.

‘Jez Butterworth’s wildly original hymn to eccentricity’ - The Mail on Sunday

‘The best new play of the decade’ - The Times

It's all over now, baby blue....

The Fringe in Edinburgh has come to a close and the High Street is quiet once again

Last month I went down Edinburgh's High Street on several occasions to make sketches from the street artists and actors.  This was mainly just for life drawing practice, as it's a great opportunity to sketch people moving around in costume.  Many of them provided rich material for the illustration above.  Almost everyone in the main illustration is based on an original sketch of an actor, clown, street artist, juggler or spectator.  Recognise anyone? 

Below are some rough sketches and also some sketchbook work...

DCA Print Studio Registered Artists Exhibition

One of the laser-cut 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' books will feature in this new exhibition alongside work by other members of the Print Studio at DCA (Dundee Contemporary Arts). 

Expect to see a wide variety of old and new techniques in this showcase of work at the Roseangle Gallery in Dundee...

 

Opening night for Tenants' Show

The Arts Complex are hosting a Tenants Show next month, which will showcase work by over 100 resident artists in their three galleries. 

Opening night is Friday 2nd of August from 6 until 9pm.

Entry is free!

For directions visit http://www.artscomplex.org/location

Closing time at Shakespeare and Co

After work hours at Shakespeare and Company bookshop in Paris last weekend.  Tai, Tom and I are drinking and talking in to the night.  Then the dwindling light and the interior of the book shop suddenly gave me the very antisocial urge to DRAW.

So off I went. 

Tai photographing me drawing as I drew him and Tom

Commission for SandvikFest 2013

This pen and ink design is for a recent commission for SandvikFest music festival in Sweden next month. 

A limited edition of tote bags and tshirt will be printed with the illustration for the festival on the first weekend of August 2013.







For news and updates from Sandvikfest, visit them at www.sandvikfest.com or follow them on Twitter at twitter.com/SandvikFest

Laser cut booklet

Dracula's Crossing
An illustrated cut-out of a sea voyage, based on the strange and fateful voyage of the Demeter from Varna to Whitby in Bram Stokers' Dracula.

I produced several of these in time for the Baltic Artists' Book Fair last month at Gateshead.
 
Edition of fifty, laser cut in to black plike with grey dust jacket. 

No Guts No Glory

...some of my concertina books made their way on to the shelves at No Guts No Glory last week!  Visit them at http://ngngdesign.com/ 

or if you are in the area at

No Guts No Glory

McCoys Arcade

Fore Street

Exeter
EX4 3AN

Coming to the Baltic next month!

On Opulance illustrations

Illustrations for Hope Whitmore's article On Opulence, published 6th May 2013.

Full article at http://hopewhitmore.wordpress.com/2013/05/06/on-opulence/

BABE 2013

Photo by Francesca Phillips

The Bristol Artists Book Event (BABE) is finished for another two years.  Last weekend's fair at the Arnolfini in Bristol was fun, inspiring and another great opportunity to see book art by national and international artists.  It was also very busy!  

 

Also, the Jekyll and Hyde laser cut books sold out.   There were a couple of people who expressed interest in buying the last copy of the laser cut book, however I was a bit slow to write down the names and email addresses of those of you who were interested.

If you would like to order a laser cut copy of Jekyll and Hyde, then please contact me at Robsonjk@yahoo.co.uk

Coming soon...

....next weekend at the Arnolfini in Bristol! 

New laser cut book

 
New work - all laser cut from black plike paper

The narrative for this is based on Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, and features dozens of silhouetted characters in a city based on Edinburgh's New Town.

The book isn't yet finished, but below are some photos of the work done from yesterday's session on the laser-cutter... 

All photographs copyright to Tai Kedzierski

shadow play

soft light and hard light combined

 

Books measure 60cm by 15cm