AOI Illustration Awards 2013


Exhibition for this independent jury selected illustration award at Somerset House.

This was an interesting selection of work from the short list of the award and often showed how pictures can be used to express a complex idea or information.  A good example of this was Ed Baldry’s picture of how Liverpool’s history as a centre of trade and culture has influenced the scouse accent. 

I liked the style of the exhibition to display original art round the walls but then show in display cases how the work had been used. I was drawn to John Riordan’s graphic poem “Capital City” displayed as individual works and the book it came from.

My favourite was Joe Caslin’s use of portraiture to elevate young men in Edinburgh by enlarging exquisite portraits and putting them on buildings. In the accompanying film the boys whose images were used compared themselves to celebrities on boll boards.  I liked the fact that they had been involved in putting the images up.

 

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