Castor and Pollux

February 3rd, 2012

Rob Ryan Valentine prints

This new print from Rob comes in three versions – girl/boy, 2 boys and 2 girls. £120 unframed. Smashing!

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Posted by Mike

July 17th, 2010

Pippa Cunningham is a painter based in Brighton, but she travels for inspiration resulting in very colourful work. Trips abroad to the West Indies, south of France and to the Palio in Italy are where she does her location painting,

She has brought us a few prints with her signature vast blue sea.

Brighton Pier, limited edition giclee print, 735 x 575 mm £ 215

Nice Harbour, France, limited edition giclee print, 750 x 575 mm £ 215

Please pop into the gallery to see them, or call us on 01273 773776.

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Posted by Mike

July 10th, 2010

Charley Harper essay from Delicious Industries

Ternscape, limited edition giclee print, 465 x 340 mm, £195

Charley Harper

04.08.1922 – 10.06.2007

“I don’t try to put everything in, I try to leave everything out. I never count the feathers in the wings; I just count the wings.”

Charlie Harper was an American Modernist who developed a distinctive style of illustration that he called Minimal Realism. Harper grew up on his family’s farm in the Appalachian foothills where he built “an affinity for nature that would one day find expression in my designs”.

He began studying at the Art Academy of Cincinnati as a realist painter before being drafted, spending three years in Army Intelligence during the Second World War. Harper continued to sketch, however, and in this very different environment learned how to “grasp the important elements of a scene quickly and put them down with minimum detail.”

After his time in the Army, Harper completed his studies and graduated in 1947. He was awarded the Stephen H Wilder Traveling Scholarship, which enabled he and his wife Edie to travel the West and South of America painting and enjoying nature.

On their return Charley became a tutor at the Art Academy of Cincinnati (where he would stay for 20 years) and also began working in a commercial studio. However, he soon found the latter wasn’t an environment for realism and that all they wanted was illustrations of “happy housewives”.

Increasingly frustrated with the limitations of realism he began to experiment with a new style where he replaced perspective with two-dimensional shapes, reduced to only straight lines and curves. The idea was “…to push simplification as far as possible without losing identification”. This new style combined the ability to caricature and simplify.

“I reduced all lines and edges to straights and curves and began to render with mechanical drawing instruments – ruling pen, compass, French curve, T-square, triangle. I saw forms as hard-edged shapes of flat or textured colour with enough lines added to complete identification. I began to include black and white in every full-colour picture (forbidden in realism); spanning the value scale added sparkle and zip, and all colours seem to me richer in the presence of black and white. I didn’t discard depth, but achieved it by such devices as overlapping shapes and colour and size relationships.”

Harper’s use of pure ink whites rather than unprinted paper is one of the reasons why his prints still appear so vibrant.

“Nature subjects, I found, are ideally suited to this interpretation. Birds and fish in particular have built-in functional beauty imposed by their habitats and require only a little distortion of what’s there already, a thinning of lines and a simpler statement of shape. In perching and walking birds, and some insects, there exists a spatial tension because of the heavy body supported by slender legs that I find satisfying.”

In 1948 Ford Publications commissioned Harper to illustrate the recipe section in the December issue of ‘Ford Times’, Ford Motor Company’s travel magazine. This was the start of a successful collaboration that would last until 1982 and the reason that so many of the wonderful prints we know today exist.

His illustrations proved popular with readers, who often requested copies. So in 1952 the illustrations for a wildlife article, ‘Eight Familiar Fish’ were also offered to readers as a series of screen prints for $5 each. The prints were hand-screen printed by Charley and Edie in their basement – Charley created the stencils whilst Edie mixed the inks.

These limited edition prints were so successful that in June 1953 a second set followed concluding a series of articles named ‘Horseless Carriage Adventures’ and depicting national landmarks. Then in November 1954 a series of bird prints were offered which accompanied the article ‘Feeding Station Birds’.

The bird prints became an annual tradition eventually comprising 73 designs. For each November issue Harper would not only illustrate an article about birds and produce the limited edition prints but would also write it. In total, he illustrated over 90 articles and 30 covers for Ford Times.

Throughout the 50′s and 60′s Harper enjoyed commercial success illustrating the popular cook book, ‘Betty Crocker’s Dinner for Two’ and being commissioned by The Golden Press to illustrate ‘The Golden Book of Biology’ and ‘The Animal Kingdom’, all very sought after publications.

Harper found the greatest pleasure in nature illustration and throughout his career designed many posters for non-profit organisations including Cincinnati Zoo, Cincinnati Nature Center, Hamilton County (Ohio) Park District, the Michigan Audubon Society and the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Pennsylvania.

Other notable works include the design of two ceramic tile murals both in Cincinnati; one for the Federal Building, based on American wildlife and one for the new Convention Center, titled ‘Space Walk’. Also two painted murals in Dearborn; one depicting Michigan wildlife in the Ford General Staff Office building cafeteria, and another on ‘transportation around the world’ in the Ford Rotunda.

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Posted by Mike

May 26th, 2010

Nineteen Seventy Three screen prints

Our friends, James and Emma, at 1973 have stocked us with beautifully designed greeting cards for quite sometime now. They have recently worked with some of their artists to scale up designs into screen prints. Belle & Boo, Jon Burgerman, Goodlife and Clementine can now adorn your walls!

They are all 500 x 700 mm and limited to an edition of 100.

: Evie, from Belle & Boo, screen print, £ 105

: Kite, from Belle & Boo, screen print, £ 105

: Rabbit, from Jon Burgerman, screen print, £ 135

: Pirate, from Jon Burgerman, screen print, £ 135

: Elephant, from Clementine, screen print, £ 115

: Lion, from Clementine, screen print, £ 115

: Russian doll, from Goodlife, screen print £ 125

: Robot, from Goodlife, screen print £ 125

: Owl, from Goodlife, screen print £ 125

Please come and visit if you would to see them, but if you are far away, we can do everything over the phone and pop anything in the post. 01273 773776

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Posted by April

May 4th, 2010

Signed Mary Fedden giclee prints

Our friends at Aquarelle have added to their collection here. Quentin Blake and Miffy are now joined by fine art prints from prolific painter, Mary Fedden.

Although over 90 she continues to paint with the vigour and individuality that has made her one of Britain’s best-loved contemporary artists. Her work is in nearly every modern British collection including the Tate and the Royal Academy.

: Poppies, limited edition signed giclee print, mounted 660 x 680 mm, £ 649

: Fruit, limited edition signed giclee print, mounted 575 x 530 mm, £ 549

: Two Pears, limited edition signed giclee print, mounted 480 x 680 mm, £ 549

: Two Lilies, limited edition signed giclee print, mounted 545 x 680 mm, £ 649

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Posted by April

March 30th, 2010

Matt Wingfield screen prints

Designer, Matt Wingfield is local to Brighton, and a frequent visitor to Castor & Pollux. You may have seen his graphic work in the likes of Top Shop, Oxford Circus.

These silk screen prints are his latest creative project. We hope you like them as much as we do!

: Spray can, screen print, 420 x 297 mm, £ 50

: Chilli, screen print, 210 x 297 mm, £ 40

: Soda, screen print, 210 x 297 mm, £ 40

: Love hearts, screen print, 297 x 420 mm, £ 40

Please phone or email if you would like to buy one, or come and visit us in the gallery.

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Posted by April

March 19th, 2010

Next show – Julie Doucet linocut illustrations

Coming up … linocut illustrations by Canadian graphic artist Julie Doucet.

Also featured in the bookshop will be Julie’s comics and graphic novels.

Click here to view the show online.

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Posted by Mike

February 16th, 2010

Lo Cole – ‘When in Rome’

When in Rome, limited edition screen print, £ 250 unframed

This nicely made screenprint comes from Lo Cole, whose illustrations grace many a newspaper and bookcover. Other Lo Cole prints are in stock, click here to view.

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Posted by Mike

September 20th, 2009

Now showing – paintings & monoprints by Mike Levy

Exhibition poster

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Posted by Mike

July 19th, 2009

New monoprints from Mike Levy

Alfresco loving, monoprint, 160 x 90mm £35

Monoprinting produces unique ‘one-off’ images using print techniques. The prints can be quick to make and keep the fluidity of the original drawing. Mike’s monoprints match his pottery in colour and pattern and start at £20.

Click here to see our current selection.