Beermat Characters + The Poop Deck: Launch Film
On Tuesday 30th April 2013, Inkygoodness & Ammo Magazine set out to present their first joint illustration exhibition: Beermat Characters + The Poop Deck Project.
Showcasing the incredible talents of over 150 international artists & illustrators chosen especially for the project, the results culminated in a colourful and diverse display of artwork at The Coningsby Gallery in London for just one week. This short film, directed by Craig Bush, captures the process of curating and hanging the exhibition, and the buzzing excitement of our celebrated launch night – we’re very proud of it and hope you enjoy watching!
Inkygoodness: Beermat Characters + The Poop Deck Project Launch from Inkygoodness on Vimeo.
With thanks to: bartaalbers.com / andycolclough.co.uk / theframers.net / ripedigital.com / sailorjerry.com
Tags: AMMO magazine, Beermat Characters, Coningsby Gallery, Exhibition, Illustration, Launch party, London
Featured Artist: Aaron Miller
Aaron Miller is a determined freelance illustrator based in Cheltenham, England. After nearly a year of spending his days as a pizza chef and illustrating by night he decided to take the leap into full time freelance illustration. He studied illustration at University College Falmouth and has missed the sea and seagulls ever since.
As a freelance illustrator, Aaron has been involved in a vast range of creative projects including notable work for Macmillan, Paperfox Press, Virgin and Moray Council, in addition to being featured on the pages of Digital Arts, Computer Arts magazine and cover design illustration for issue 4 of Ammo magazine.
Self initiated illustration by Aaron Miller
Earlier this year we invited Aaron to get involved with out latest project Beermat Characters, for which he produced ‘Smile‘; a handmade character created with acrylic & paper collage. Part of our exhibition at The Coningsby Gallery in London last week, Aaron’s design is now available for purchase online: shop.inkygoodness.com until the end of June.
Smile by Aaron Miller
Illustration for Macmillan by Aaron Miller
Our shop stocks illustrated prints by Sneaky Raccoon & Ed J.Brown, alongside many of the illustrated beermats from our exhibition. Made with a variety of materials from acrylic to digital, plush to paper collage, 3D sculptures & cut-outs, our Beermat Characters have been designed by 82 international artists and illustrators, including one-off artworks by Sandra Dieckmann (UK), Ryan Quincy (USA), Josh Neal (UK), Johnnie Weilliang-Hoek (NL), Michel Martins (NL) & Aaron Miller (UK).
Further reading:
Inkygoodness Beermat Characters on sale via Supadupa until the end of June. Visit shop.inkygoodness.com to browse our full collection of original artwork & illustrated prints – available whilst stocks last!
Tags: Aaron Miller, Beermat Characters, Character design, Illustrator
Featured Artist: Kristyna Baczynski
Kristyna Baczynski is an illustrator, comic book artist and designer of Ukrainian blood and Yorkshire tongue. She works from her studio in Leeds, UK and loves thrifting treasures from the past. Working from her studio in Leeds, UK, her client list includes the BBC, Hallmark, Computer Arts, Pizza Express, The Stool Pigeon, Gosh! Comics, Blank Slate Books, No Guts No Glory & Hyde Park Picture House.
Earlier this year, we invited Kristyna join our line-up for our Beermat Characters exhibition, for which she created a narrative piece; Hunted Beauty, Rebirth & Fight based on an imaginary narrative about folk characters;
I wanted to create a group of character archetypes who worked together to allude to a narrative, some secret story. These forest folk are the players in a woodland tale, each contributing an element to the whole.
Above & below: Hunted Beauty, Rebirth and Fight Beermat Characters by Kristyna Baczynski
Framed as a set of 4, her Beermat Characters were on display in London last week as part of our group illustration exhibition at The Coningsby Gallery, alongside The Poop Deck Project show, curated by Ammo Magazine. Hand painted in gouache, her one-off mini artworks are now available to buy for a limited time only at the inkygoodness online shop, alongside designs by over 80 artists and illustrators from the UK & beyond!
Our friends at The Framers in Birmingham were commissioned to build bespoke frames for the beermat character project, taking on the huge task of framing over 85 individual artworks! Catch a sneaky peek behind the scenes here. Our launch night film is currently in the editing suite and will be available for viewing very soon!
Inkygoodness Beermat Characters on sale via Supadupa until the end of June. Visit shop.inkygoodness.com to browse our full collection.
The Vice Illustration Show at Pure Evil Gallery
Gathering together the most visceral and ‘challenging’ work on offer for the very first time, The VICE Illustration Show is an essential guide to VICE’s unique visual history in print and online, and a preview of what’s coming next from this collection of highly unusual minds.
Classic work from each artist has been unearthed from the archives and gives a unchartered insight into a pre-digitised process where beautiful, messy line drawings are king. This collection of original and unseen work will sit alongside new pieces created exclusively for the show, designed to give an insight into the modern illustrator at work.
The exhibition is going to include a selection of new prints, work that’s been featured in VICE and original drawings especially for the show, which are designed to give an insight into how the people who do drawings for us go about doing their drawings. Those people are (deep breath) Johnny Ryan, Daniel David Freeman, Kyle Platts, Cei Willis, Nick Gazin, Craig Questions, Jonny Negron, Sam Taylor, Malin Bergstrom and Krent Able.
There’s a private view with free drinks from Wild Turkey, then the exhibition is open to the public from the 17th of May until the 2nd of June at Pure Evil Gallery on Leonard Street, Shoreditch.
The VICE Illustration Show Friday 17th May – Sunday 2nd June Pure Evil Gallery, 108 Leonard Street, EC2A 4XS For further information contact Nina Joyce at VICE nina.joyce@vice.co
Tags: Exhibition, Illustration, Vice
Inkygoodness Store Now Open!
We have just launched our brand new online store, bursting with colourful original artwork & limited edition prints for your home. Designed by a growing number of international artists and illustrators, the store features over 100 illustrated beermats; part of our latest design project Beermat Characters!
Showcasing the talents of over 80 artists & illustrators tasked with the challenge to transform a simple beermat into a character, these unique artworks have been crafted with a diverse range of materials including acrylic & gouache, hand made, felt plush, paper sculpture & digital print – each one beautifully displayed in bespoke wooden frames.
Little Indian by Marina Munn, Acrylic, Framed £65
These fantastic pieces are all original, one-off artworks created exclusively for Inkygoodness by artists worldwide, including Sandra Dieckmann (UK), Dave Bain (UK), Motel Seven (SA), Muxxi (GU) Kristyna Bazcynski (UK) & Hattie Stewart (UK). Designed to brighten up your home or workplace, our colourful artworks are playful & fun, and make the perfect gift for your friends, family & loved ones!
Wolf Grrl print by Ed J.Brown, Edition of 10, £10 each
Tags: Beermat Characters, Illustration, Shop
Launch Party: Beermat Characters + The Poop Deck
We’ve just about recovered from the chaos of our incredibly busy Beermat Characters + The Poop Deck exhibition launch, which got off to a flying start with visitors packing into the gallery early in the evening!
Sailor Jerry provided the drinks, Dave Hughes provided the music, and the fun continued as the crowd stayed long into the evening, with many of our participating artists joining us on the night!
We were especially proud to be joined by a handful of our international artists who made the trip to London especially, including Pia Drent (NL), Michel Martins (NL) & Max Postma (NL) – it was lovely to meet you all! If you didn’t get chance to visit the gallery last night, don’t worry – there’s still 4 days of exhibition-goodness to go! We’re open daily until Saturday 4th May, and there’s even a late night opening tomorrow evening (Thursday 2nd May) till 9pm! In the meantime, here’s a selection of images of our launch, courtesy of photographer Michelle Young – more coming soon..
Inkygoodness Beermat Characters runs until Saturday 4th May at The Coningsby Gallery, 30 Tottenham St London W1T 4RJ. Open Wed & Fri, 10.30am – 6.30pm, Thur 10.30am – 9pm, Saturday 9.30am – 5pm. Artwork will also be available to buy online from Monday 7th May, shop.inkygoodness.com.
Visit our flickr page to view more exhibition photos - flickr.com/inkygoodness
Tags: AMMO magazine, Beermat Characters, Launch, London, The Poop Deck Project
Beermat Characters Launch Supported By Sailor Jerry!
Beermat Characters opens at the Coningsby Gallery, 30 Tottenham Street, London W1T on Monday 29th April – Saturday 4th May, 10.30am – 6pm daily, with a special launch night on Tuesday 30th April, supported by Sailor Jerry.
Featured Artist: Rilla Alexander
We’re so busy getting ready for the Beermat Characters exhibition that a few extra hands were very much needed! This week we’re joined by Fine Art student Vicki Gater, who will be assisting with all aspects of running the exhibition, including artwork sales, hanging the show and blogging about our artists! In this, her first post, she shares her thoughts on artist Rilla Alexander…
Words: Vicki Gater
It’s always interesting to get out of your comfort zone and find new works that you would never of seen if you’d staying in the same space. Getting out of York, which I love, and moving down to London for the week, which I’m loving, is an eye-opener to artists and work that I wouldn’t see in York very often. The Beermat Characters and Poopdeck Project exhibition has been fantastic for me as I’m seeing a variety of skills and talent from all across the world and it’s making me want to stop what I’m doing and do what I love to do – create!
Rilla Alexander is an Australian-born and Berlin-based illustrator and designer whose cast of creatures dance across Madrid’s Museo del Prado’s ceramics and stationery products, populate Swiss Credit Cards for Cornér Bank and sleep on the walls of Hotel Fox in Copenhagen. Looking through her past works it’s fantastic to observe Rilla’s transition through illustration, publishing and her recent ceramic work at Pictoplasma. the different mediums and has now made her creatures “dance” on Beermats for this exhibition.Her characters appear quite cheeky as they spell out “HELLO”, as they dance across each beermat letter. A bright and colourful design, it really lights up the space and is one of my favourites from the show.
Beermat Characters by Rilla Alexander
Rilla is just one of over 80 artists participating in the Inkygoodness exhibition which will go on display from tomorrow at The Coningsby Gallery! Exhibiting her beermat characters alongside over 100 illustrated beermats – the gallery is bursting with colourful artwork and we can’t wait to open our doors in just a few hours!
Further reading:
Inkygoodness Beermat Characters opens on Tuesday 30th April at The Coningsby Gallery, 30 Tottenham St London W1T 4RJ. Open Mon – Sat, 10.30am – 6.30pm. Our launch party kicks off at 6pm tomorrow evening. RSVP hello@inkygoodness.com.
Featured Artist: Michael Slack
Michael Slack is an illustrator from the U.S. His illustrations can be found in books, magazines and on television, children’s products and apparel. He studied Fine Art at the San Francisco Art Institute, and his paintings and drawings have been exhibited worldwide.
As a commerical illustrators, his clients include Chronicle Books, Harper Collins, Running Press Kids Books, Hacrourt Childrens Books & Random House. He is the author of Monkey Truck and the forthcoming Elecopter published by Henry Holt.
Earlier this year, we invited Michael to join our line-up for the Beermat Characters exhibition, for which he created a set of six artworks; Conundrum #1- #6 which will be framed in three sets of two and available to purchase from Monday 29th April at The Coningsby Gallery in London. Priced at £140 per pair, these stunning one a kind prints have been produced with light-fast digital/pigment inks on handmade archival beermats.
Beermat Characters by Michael Slack, Conundrum #1- #6
Taken from my “Conundrum” series of imagery that I’ve been working on over the past two years, the series explores the concept of character abstraction. – Michael Slack
Our friends at The Framers in Birmingham were commissioned to build bespoke frames for the beermat character project, taking on the huge task of framing over 85 individual artworks! Catch a sneaky peek behind the scenes here – and you may just spot Michael’s beermats on film! With just 2 days to go until we open our doors we’ve got a very busy weekend ahead – we’ll be sharing more snippets of our preparations tomorrow as the big install takes place at the gallery – follow us on twitter to see what we get up to!
Inkygoodness Beermat Characters opens on Monday 29th April at The Coningsby Gallery, 30 Tottenham St London W1T 4RJ. Open Mon – Sat, 10.30am – 6.30pm. RSVP hello@inkygoodness.com.
Further reading
Slackart.com
Interview on LCS, 2009
Featured Artist: Julien Decaudin
Julien Decaudin is a French freelance illustrator who’s been living in London since 2006, and recently moved to Penrath in Wales. A self-taught illustrator who did his own “art school”, he grew up in a small town near Marseille, and has been posting drawings on his blog for over 5 years.
These drawings eventually developed into illustrations with a stronger identity, reflecting a dedication to keep an open-minded approach whatever the subject matter is. His ideas are inspired by various life experiences blended with a love for surrealism, improvisation and character illustration.
My Beermat Character was born from an abused tea mat that finally found its true nature after a water flood tore its paper layer off. He is such a smart monster that he does not think of himself as square.- Julien Decaudin
Monster Mate, Beermat Character by Julien Decaudin
One of the winners of our Beermat Characters Competition last year, Julien’s design ‘Monster Mate‘ goes on display at The Coningsby Gallery next week, alongside designs by the likes of Hattie Stewart (UK), Muxxi (GU), Scott Balmer (UK), Nate Bear (USA), Piktorama (VE) & many more! We’ve got a busy weekend ahead of preparations and hanging, before we open our doors bright and early on Monday 29th April. If you’re in London, do come along and say hi!
Further reading:
juliendecaudin.com
Beermat Characters opens on Monday 29th April – Saturday 4th May at The Coningsby Gallery in London, with a special launch night on Tuesday 30th April, 6pm – 9pm. Follow inkygoodness on twitter for all the latest news. RSVP hello@inkygoodness.com.
