The surrealist spirit

We’re halfway through the year. So much has happened in the last 6 months, but these are some of my favourite pieces I’ve made in that time:

Counter Culture

This is the second object I created using the EufyMake E1. I wanted to transform a ‘Four in a Row’ game into an artwork by using the counters as a canvas and the wooden structure as the frame.

I created 2 abstract textures by spray painting over cotton buds and scanning tinfoil. These were then combined with photography and colourful overlays to produce my foundational image.

The counters were then placed on to a template I had measured out, to ensure the image would print exactly where I needed it to. 6 prints were then made, 1 column at a time.

After printing, the discs were removed from the paper template and dropped into the game to complete the piece.

Exit Reality T-Shirt

It all started when I noticed the fire exit sign outside my studio. You know that little green figure running through a door? It’s a universal symbol for escaping a dangerous situation. I distorted the image and cut away the background. Inside the door I needed something that felt like another world entirely, so I scanned a handful of mealworms. They go through a complete metamorphosis during their lifetime, transforming from larvae into a beetle. I liked the idea of that transformation being hidden inside the design. In Photoshop I turned them into a psychedelic pattern of colour that bears almost no resemblance to their original state.

The type underneath was written out with a pen and a plastic stencil that I picked up a few weeks back (anytime I see a stencil out in the wild, I always buy it and add it to my ever-growing collection). The italic all caps had a nostalgia to it that seemed to fit really well with the image above it.

Get yours here.

Play Tools / Scan Factory

The Other Art Fair London invited me to exhibit a new collection of works in March and create an interactive installation that I called the ‘Scan Factory’.

To create the works, I found a set of plastic children’s tools to experiment with. For me, they represent us getting older and losing that childlike curiosity to create, when life and work takes over.

These artworks titled ‘Play Tools’ are about rediscovering that freedom of creativity. I photocopied the tools, spray painted over them and traced them. I then combined all 3 layers and pasted them to my wood panels, letting the ink run out and stain the white paint, finishing them with a silver ink.

Rag Type

Tabloids were scoured through to compile my source material. Letters were ripped apart and cut & pasted back together by hand to create these designs that are some of my favourite ever pieces.

I also headed into London last week to check Schiaparelli exhibition at the V&A.

Schiaparelli is a Paris fashion house founded by Elsa Schiaparelli, whose designs brought together high fashion with playful and imaginative ideas inspired by surrealism. During the 1930s she collaborated with artists including Salvador Dalí and created garments featuring lobster prints, skeleton dresses, and shoe-shaped hats. More recently, the house has gained renewed attention under creative director Daniel Roseberry, whose couture collections reinterpret the surrealist spirit of Schiaparelli through bold sculptural silhouettes, exaggerated jewellery, and intricate craftsmanship.

Cheers,

Joe