I was invited by Mexico Design magazine to create work for the front cover of issue 37, which focused on new designs in eco-friendly transport.
I coincided their requirements with my “Draw an object a day for 365 days project“, drawing a 1960’s children’s scooter, a leaf from a London plain tree and a skateboard.
Each drawing was cut-out and layered onto coloured paper.
The next issue will contain a 6 page feature on my work, focusing on my drawing an object a day project.
This exhibition focused on the display of the first 244 days of “Draw an object a day for 365 days“, which began on 18th August 2014,
More than 1,600 drawings were displayed on day 244 at 5th Base Gallery, East London, in small groups, individual arrangements and dense clouds.
During the show visitors were asked to vote for their favourite object drawings. Results were:
Drawings were created in small series’; several drawings of each object, from different angles, with some similarity to the approach of cubists.
Each day a new object is chosen and new drawings created. These are images of some of those series’ of object drawings on display at the exhibition.
The drawings are of objects we use in everyday life. Sometimes disposable, often overlooked, almost all are familiar and so approachable.
I’m having to make more of an effort to identify objects I haven’t already drawn. Sometimes that means looking around me to see if I’ve missed items I’m too used to seeing, other times I need to go outside and look.
I want to draw ordinary objects, which are often overlooked or objects that are a natural part of our everyday lives. Occasionally it may mean an unusual objects creeps in, but overall I’m drawing the mundane or items we just take for granted.
Through these 365 days I’m building a palette of object drawings, while also finding new ways of drawing items. At the same time this project is a kind of daily diary, describing the world around me.
Heading out early Thursday morning, I took two object drawings (#213, Trout and #80 Edible Crab) the short distance from my home to Billingsgate Fish market in Poplar, East London.
Each of the original objects were bought here, so I took the drawings they’d inspired to the location of their origin.
Taking the drawings back into the environment the original objects came from, is an effort to maintain a connection with the origins of the objects. It also serves to keep the artworks in contact with the real world.
Images of Object drawings from the series “Draw an object a day for 365 days”. All of these drawings will be on display in the forthcoming exhibition.
Day #237 of “Draw an object a day for 365 days”.
The area surrounding my home has several examples of classic Brutalist architecture. They are building I walk past each day, I’ve collected some of the objects I’ve drawn over the past 236 days from the small parks and grassy areas in their grounds.
These images show me posing with a select few objects, in front of these iconic buildings.
The object drawings in these photos.
224 days into “Draw an object a day for 365 days“, I walked the short distance from my flat in Poplar, east London, to Chrisp street market.
Accompanied by the artist Anto Lloveras from LAPIEZA, I posed with drawings of some of the objects I’ve bought from the shops and stalls. The chicken from ‘Ali’s Meat & Poultry’ on Vesey path, the banana and water bottle from a Chrisp Street market stall and the paint brush from Gates DIY store. all of these drawings will appear in the exhibition ‘Day 236 of draw an object a day from 365 days’, in the 5thBase gallery in Whitechapel on 24th – 26th April.
Living in Poplar for the past 12 years, it’s easy to see the market area is at the centre of what goes on. It’s full of energy and objects.
I’d bought the rose I drew from ‘Bozdag and Gordon Flowers’ stall, inside the Canary wharf DLR main concourse and posed with the drawing outside Poplar fire station.
The objects I’ve chosen to draw each day over the past 8 months reflect the culture I’m a part of, which can be seen at least partly in terms of objects. The market and surrounding shops sell so many objects, which we purchase use on a daily basis.
Each day I post a drawing to Instagram.