Craig Atkinson is an Artist/Illustrator/Publisher. He studied Fine Art at Leeds in the late 1990s and left as a painter but after a while got fed up with how expensive it was and the gallery culture so quit painting and started to draw. I laugh every time I look at his drawings. They have so much personality and even though they could be seen as simple I think they are far more interesting than a photo realistic drawing. He draws a lot of heads which also makes me laugh for some reason. He then decided he wanted people to see his drawings, because deep down, as creatives, we ALL want our work to be seen whether we will admit it or not! So he set up a publishing company called Cafe Royal Books, and started to put out zines compiled of his drawings. He wanted them to be zines so that they were affordable, as they are cheaper to produce. He then went onto publish zines compiled of other artists work and collaborates with different people too. 'America' is part of the 'somewhere else' series which are photograph books. Craig said he still draws everyday, and tries to draw at least one head, and every so often he will publish a drawing book..
Solution/Problem are another series of "books" that are a delivered in the form of a plastic wallet, containing 10 items from around Craig's studio, each of which can be a solution to a problem. This is such a fun idea! I've never thought that anything can really be a book. The clever thing is, once you open the package, you actually destroy the book so it is no longer that.
I loved Craigs talk, it was great to see that you don't have to stick to one thing, which is great for me because like Craig, I get bored easily. Well not so much bored, but something else will grab my attention.
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| January 2010 |
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| Solution / 100 2012 |
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| America 29.01.13 |
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