I am delighted to share the work of Yusuke Nagano, a Japanese born Illustrator and Art Director who has lived and worked for much of his life in Sweden. He’s one of my favourite illustrators working today and I was fortunate to briefly speak with a busy Yusuke during his recent and very successful exhibition at the Motala Konsthall in Sweden.

——

Thank so much for talking with us Yusuke, could you tell SickManSick briefly about the type of work that you do?

Many of my works are based on children, because children have had the most impact on me in my life.

Congratulations on your current exhibition at the ‘Motala Konsthall’, please could you tell us a bit about the work you are showing?

In my paintings, I portrayed dreams from my childhood, my memories and wondering about how the world would change and showed them at my current exhibition at Motala Konsthallen.  You can see my short film there as well.

You’ve mastered a variety of creative endeavors during your career. I know of your passion for drawing and I really admire the diversity within your studio and personal illustration work and also in particular how the energy is translated into your animation work.

Does this type of transition feel natural and what difficulties did you discover in this kind of process?

Through my long career as an illustrator, I have had contact with various kinds of people from different creative areas, which influenced my style of work.  I was affected by how musicians, designers and dancers around me felt and saw things.  I think that these various influences are reflected in my work.

We’d love to see your work here in London in the future, Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us, we wish you all the very best,

Thank you Yusuke!

Japanese version

このたびはインタビューをお受けいただきましてありがとうございます。ではまず簡単に長野さんご自身について、そして長野さんの作品のタイプについてご紹介願います。

僕の作品の多くは子供が主体になっています。それは自分が生きていた中で、一番インパクトがあつたせいかっだったからです。

このたびの’Motala Konsthall’のご盛況、誠におめでとうございます。今回その展覧会ではどのような作品を展示されていらっしゃいますか？

Motala Kosthallen では、子供のころの思い出またその時、見た夢、それプラスこれからどんな形に世の中が変わっていくのだろうか、という疑問を絵にしたものを展示しました。それにShort Filmなどです。

私の知るうえで、長野さんは過去にさまざまな独創的な試みに精通されてこられました。
長野さんの絵画に対する情熱を存じ上げており、スタジオや個人のイラストレーションの作品の多様性、そしてまた特に例を挙げると、それらの努力がどのようにしてアニメーション作品へと変えられているかということについて大変敬服しています。

この様な変化は自然だとお感じになられますか、そしてこれらの過程でどの様な困難がみうけられましたか？

僕はイラストを長い間、描いていたのでいろいろな人たちと仕事をしての経験がたぶん生かされていると思います。僕にとって僕の周りにいる絵描き、音楽家、デザイナー、ダンサーなど彼らから物の見方、感じ方、心を動かされることがありそれが作品の方向性につながっている可能性があるとおもいます。

先生の作品をロンドンでお目にかかれることを楽しみにさせて頂いています。今回のインタビューをお受け下さりありがとうございます。先生のますますのご発展をお祈り申し上げます。

ありがとうございました

Thank you so much to Hitomi Sato for doing a great job with the translation work.

Please check out more of Yusuke’s work at www.yusuke.nagano.nu and you can also purchase a selection of his illustration work at www.then.se

Rich.

I went down to the MA Publishing student’s exhibition at The Book Club in East London last Wednesday- ‘Publishing Challenge’ showcased new self-published books and magazines from the students at LCC.

The work on display was excellent and the night also coincided with the launch of the ABC Book Project.

There were some very interesting presentations, highlighting the highs and lows of making the work on display, including the painstakingly hand screen printed cover for each copy and this was followed by an auction of the final ABC book- the book, signed by the illustrators went for £75 and this will go towards the other great fundraising work ABC has been doing with the British Red Cross.

Keep up to date for more news on the ongoing project here, ABC Project.

Rich.

Next Wednesday is an exhibition by MA Publishing students from LCC- a celebration of the all things printed and bound.

As part of this will be the launch of the ABC Book Project which I was involved in earlier this year. I was one of 26 illustrators each contributing an illustration of a designated letter of the alphabet with a short written paragraph/poem to accompany it.

Really excited to see the finished article so please come down to The Book Club and check out the event!

From the LCC website:

Date: Wednesday 20 July 2011
Time: 6.30pm onwards
Venue: The Book Club, 100 Leonard Street, London, EC2A 4RH

Are you a designer, illustrator, photographer or photojournalist who has created a book or magazine?

If so, LCC MA Publishing students – the New Publishers 2011 group – invite you to participate in an exhibition and Pecha Kucha night to celebrate new self-published printed books and magazines.

If you’d like to take part contact newpublishers2011@gmail.com or visit www.publishingchallenge.com for more info.

Rich.

It’s my degree show private view this Thursday!

The exhibition goes on for a about a week but please come to check out the great work from all the different pathways. The uni is right by the island in Elephant & Castle- if you come out of the Shopping Centre Tube Station it’s opposite- you can’t miss it.

If you’d like to come on Thursday please RSVP (essential) with your names to events@lcc.arts.ac.uk

Info from the LCC Site:

Private view, Thursday 30 June
Includes work by BA (Hons) FdA & ABC Dip Animation, ABC Dip 3D Modelling and Animation, BA (Hons) & FdA Design for Graphic Communication, BA (Hons) & FdA Digital Media Design, BA (Hons) & FdA Games Design, BA (Hons) Graphic & Media Design, FdA Graphic and Spatial Communication, & BA (Hons) & FdA Media Practice students; BA (Hons) Graphic Product Innovation students.

All Press and Private Views by invitation only 6 – 9pm

RSVP (essential) and all enquiries: LCC Events, events@lcc.arts.ac.uk

We welcome children of all ages to LCC to view the exhibitions. Children under the age of 16 will need to be accompanied by a responsible adult at all times and have written permission to enter the building. For more information please email: events@lcc.arts.ac.uk or phone 020 7514 6550.

The shows run from 11 April until 8 July 2011, 10am – 7pm (Mon-Fri), 10am-3.45pm (Sat), closed Sun.

All exhibitions take place at London College of Communication.

Get live updates via Twitter @LCCLondon or by following the #LCCRA hashtag.

Hope to see you there,

Rich.

I’ve hit a bit of a lull in terms of getting the content I’ve been making up here on SickManSick- but rest assured there are exciting projects in the pipeline.

It’s been a very busy few months- I’ve recently finished up some client work with a Martial Arts company and I’ve just graduated from the London College of Communication on the BA (Hons) Graphic & Media Design course and so I’m busy preparing for the final degree exhibition- the private view is on June 30th 2011 at LCC in Elephant & Castle. I’ll create a separate post advertising this.

In the down time I’ve been working on some new logos and mini schemes.

- you can follow me @Rich_Sheehan

I am also in the process of setting up an online store where all being well you can purchase some original artwork, prints and cool creative things in the future through the site, although I’m still working on the themes and schemes in the mean time-

I hope to have it up and running in the next couple of weeks.

Until then, I have to get back to preparing for the final show…!

Rich.

Last Friday I went down to the private view of Jucapinga’s first solo show in London, “Facing Kabu”. Set in the Old Police Station in New Cross, it is the perfect setting for Jucapinga’s work where we find ‘the relationship between good and evil, crime and order is presented sequentially and limited by frames’.

From Plasticina,

“Born in Portugal to Cape Verdean parents, Jucapinga presents his work in London for the first time.

His true passion has always resided in creating characters, illustrating them and using them as compositions in fiction. His influences are firmly connected with his roots, background and research from the street culture where he grew up, João Abel Manta’s brush strokes, Sebastião Rodrigues’ graphic designs, Vasily Vereschagin’s strong-message war paintings and the revolutionary inspiration of Amilcar Cabral. All this comes to life with the warm colours he uses and the ‘cut and paste’ technique which relies on simple but effective materials.”

I really loved the work and highly recommend to check out the show before it finishes on Friday 11th February!

“Facing Kabu” – Jucapinga

The Old Police Station

114 Amersham Vale

London SE14 6LG

http://www.jucapinga.co.uk/

http://plasticina.co.uk/

Rich.

This week I was asked to photograph a new exhibition named ‘Light – Part 1′ at ‘Paradise row’ art gallery off Oxford Street. The artists displaying their work are:

Reza Aramesh, Jake & Dinos Chapman, Desiree Dolron, Terence Koh, Wayne Horse, Dawn Mellor, Gino Saccone, Peter Schuyff and Conrad Shawcross.

The exhibition runs from 14 JANUARY – 20 FEBRUARY 2011. Admission is free and I highly recommend that you go and see it.

Here are a few of the images that I took:

For more information on the exhibition, and indeed the gallery itself, click the link below.

http://www.paradiserow.com/exhibitions/47/

Cormac

New 18″ x 22″ screen print, ‘Liberty’, on heavyweight Heritage paper.

One was sold at the silent auction during the LCC Illustration Year 3 Personal Best Exhibition from a super limited run of six; with now only two prints left for sale.

Massive thank you to Anthony Chapman who assisted me in the printing process. Definitely looking to try more screen printing in the future.

Drop me an email at rich@sickmansick.co.uk if interested in those last two!

Rich.

Last week I checked out the Lost Knowledge exhibition which ran from the 6th – 10th December 2010 at the Camden Town Unlimited’s Collective space. The exhibition was organised by Nathan Gotlib, a fellow 3rd Year Graphic & Media design student at London College of Communication.

Taken from the University website:

“This exhibition celebrates the processes of printmaking that have defined London College of Communication over the years and features work submitted by 26 staff and students from LCC.

The exhibition’s theme of ‘lost knowledge’, embodied in the processes used, is based on notions of our era’s omnipresent phenomenon of digital amnesia. Subject matter varies immensely, as does the variety of printmaking techniques employed to produce the work on show.

Over the summer, a wide range of people also took part in workshops at the College with a view to getting a range of participants involved in the process of silk screen printing. After running for a successful 7 weeks, the workshop produced a body of work that will be exhibited alongside submissions.”

Check out http://lccprintmaking.wordpress.com/ for more information.

Photographs by Hanna Yoo.

Opening night THIS Thursday 8th April 2010: 6-9pm at East Gallery, 214 Brick Lane, London.

Exhibition runs until 21st April 2010.

“16 INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS VERSUS FAMOUS SONG LYRICS”

It’s come around again all you music and type lovers! Welcome to LYRICS AND TYPE: VERSE 2 -
another international typographic screenprint exhibition from the creator of the award-winning
arts culture publication WOODEN TOY QUARTERLY (AUS) with support from the good folks
at VNA MAGAZINE (UK).

Following on from the success of the LYRICS AND TYPE: VERSE 1 zine project at Gorker Gallery
(Oct 2009), comes the exciting second instalment in the series of LYRICS AND TYPE projects at
London’s East Gallery. Combined with an all new formula and a ‘bass dropping’ array of artists,
LYRICS AND TYPE: VERSE 2 aims to feature interpretations of both famous, past and present song
lyrics by 16 leading international typographers, designers, artists and illustrators.

Each of the 16 selected artists have been carefully invited by Wooden Toy and VNA Magazine to
respond to a project brief and discuss with the public through its exhibition on the importance
of music ‘versus’ influence and personal inspiration.

FEATURING ARTWORKS BY & DISCUSSIONS WITH:

ALLAN SANDERS UK
DREW MILLWARD UK
EINE UK
I LOVE DUST UK
KEATON HENSON UK
MORNING BREATH USA
MR GAUKY UK
NATE HOLMES TRAPNELL AUS
NICK DEAKIN UK
NICOLAS TUAL FRA
NUMSKULL AUS
PUZLE AUS
STEPH SAYS HELLO UK
STEPHANE TARTELIN FRA
TIMBA SMITS AUS
WASTE UK

www.lyricsandtype.com

www.woodentoypublishingco.com
www.verynearlyalmost.com
www.eastgallery.tumblr.com

Rich.