Happy London

Originally from Acle a village in Norfolk on the east coast of England, Marcus’s work has many influence's including his childhood in Norfolk, the wonderful harmonic and melodic music of the Beach Boys, the pastoral delights of the countryside and the friendly animals that inhabit it. Over the last few years his work has been related to the 1970's.

“I guess I am looking back at things I can remember and the innocence of it all. My interest is also in things that I didn't really know about at the time or was too young to appreciate, such as Fleetwood Mac's 1977 album 'Rumours' or in general the aesthetic beauty of the decades architecture, fashion, graphics and typography.”

Since 2003 Marcus was inspired to turn his artwork into sound and has been making music under The Sunflower Band. www.myspace.com/thesunflowerband

Ian Stevenson was born and now lives and draws with pens and his hand. Influenced by the everyday strangeness of people and the world around him, his odd world of characters is here for you to enjoy.

Clients include MTV, E4 Music, Pictoplasma, Mother, London Transport and many more. He enjoys the challenge of drawing in interesting places, walls, toilets, t-shirts and one project, Rubbish Drawings, involves him walking around the streets and bringing rubbish alive and making them talk back.

He sees his art as an outlet for the strange thoughts that plague his mind. As a result he poses no danger for the general public and is perfectly safe to approach. He welcomes you to say hello and to join him on his drawing adventure...
www.ianstevenson.co.uk

Originally hailing from County Durham in the north east of England and currently based in London. Matt has been making a name for himself as an illustrator and artist drawing on his rural heritage and using an array of mediums to recreate his world for exhibitions, animation, books and prints.

“In this work, a sense of innocence and dreaminess, under closer examination, gives way to more mischievous undertones. Owls and foxes are motifs in Sewell’s paintings. As a graffiti writer, does Sewell identify with these nocturnal creatures? They are certainly both animals that have adapted to life in the city, and characterized respectively as wise and cunning. The young girl that languishes across the second wall appears to be asleep, but her hand delicately caresses the black cat lying next to her, its fur brushing sensually against her fingers. There is a latent sexuality to this image, but one that is uneasy and makes a voyeur of the viewer.

Fairytale narrative plays an interesting role in Sewell’s work, in particular in his iconic treatment of animals. As an urban artist, it is interesting that he chooses subjects from the natural world, although foxes and owls as symbols or icons have been shaped and redefined by the urban environment, and equally by popular culture. While in folklore an owl was a sinister symbol, an apparition of the nighttime, illustrators such as A.A Milne have shaped it into a friendly oracle of wisdom for the benefit of children. The identity of the owl has become ambiguous, oscillating between the sinister and the innocent or ‘cute’.

From street art to gallery walls, Matt's work has been featured in numerous publications – ‘Art of Rellion 2’, ‘Scrawl 2, More Dirt’,'Barcelona Street Art; The Spray Files' and 'Designed to Help' a book launched to raise funds for the Tsunami as well appearing in 'The Fundamentals of Illustration' ‘Modart’ “Graphotism’ and “Blowback”.

Matt’s client list has included: The Big issue, The Guardian, BBC, V Festival, Artforumn, Level magazine, Playstation 2 magazine, Super-Lovers, Spuk, Selfridges, Magma, Hank-Yu, Mecca.
www.mattsewell.co.uk

"I print using things that I find, such as reclaimed wood, stickers and paper cut outs. My prints are about things I have seen or done, about the things I like, wildlife, birds, growing up in the north and moving to London"

Born in Hull in the north east of England, Kim moved to London and went to Camberwell College of Art to do an M.A. It is here where she learnt different printing techniques that gave her the freedom to be more inventive with materials and to shape a distinctive style to her work.

Using various techniques from foil printing, screen printing to free hand, Kim has managed to retain a unique "folk" aesthetic to her work. Regular subjects contain birds and Romanian country life, after travelling around Romania for a month on bicycle. Bicycle trips have been a big influence on her work and other journeys include, Seattle - Los Angeles, the Pyrenees and the Picos de Europa in Spain. Recently cycling has featured in prints along with gymnasts, footballers and winter sports.

Kim has held a solo show in Atlanta, Georgia, creates and sells her own re-cycled bag collection and printed products (cards, sketchbooks and leather products) to Magma, The R.C.A shop, The South Bank Centre and various shops around the UK. Her designs have also been sold in United Arrows and Found in Japan. She has also spent the last few years teaching printmaking at Camberwell, Canterbury and Newham College, London.

For more info regarding Kim Jenkins work visit www.luckybird.co.uk

Hanne Barr is an illustrator based in London. She was born in Glasgow in 1979 and received an education at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design from 1998 to 2001.

“For this show I was thinking of my happy thoughts of London and I remembered that when I was very small I wanted to go there because I saw the Disney animation ‘101 Dalmations’ and I thought that the place would be filled with tall, skinny, grey/brown houses that had big windows and were full of picture frames and musical instruments and animals. Something which I like about London now I live here is the occasional glimpse you get of urban wildlife; I like that you can be in the city and see a squirrel running up a tree or a sparrow on the pavement. The first time I saw a fox it was in London.”
www.hannebarr.co.uk

London based Adrian Johnson was born in Liverpool in 1974. His work has featured in publications such as The New York Times, Design Week, and The Guardian, for which his work is best known. He's exhibited in New York, London, and Hong Kong, and in 2007 his first line of T-shirts were released with 2K By Gingham. Along side his artwork for broadsheet reading grown-ups he has also written and illustrated his own children's books. His artwork is best described by the artist as ' a bit daft'.
www.adrainjohnson.org.uk