 |
'A Wave Called Panic' - By Chris Gray
Thursday May 14th - September 2009
Common, Edge Street, Manchester.
When, by his own admission, the biggest inspiration for Chris Gray’s illustrations are the general public - “the majority of them are absolutely bonkers” - it comes as no surprise then that he has taken some of the more original content of our heavily graffitied toilet walls as the starting point for ‘A Wave Called Panic’, his exhibition at Common which opens on Thursday 14th May.
Having grown up in a tiny town that no-one has heard of, Chris left behind a childhood of close collaborations with his brother on epic stickman wars and Letraset novels and came north. After failed careers in psychology; music technology; IT; retail and cheese, a degree in graphic design lead to the world of advertising. But that didn’t last long either with Chris setting-up Toy, an illustration/art label, in October of last year. As a small community, Toy not only allows each of the nine young illustrators from around Europe the opportunity to collaborate on larger projects, it also gives them the support and protection they need when working in the big, bad world of commercial design.
When it comes to his own work, Chris is as much a fan of the work of classic graphic designers Alan Fletcher, Paul Rand and Saul Bass as he is street artists like Todd James, yes, even when he’s drawing “three heads vomiting into each other” or “a man with a massive head trying to squeeze through a small door”. He also really, really likes Vimto. Don’t get us wrong: we like Vimto too, but he thinks it’s better than tea.
Whilst the starting point for Chris’ exhibition is maybe a little more high-concept than we’re typically used to here at Common, Chris has reassuringly humble ambitions for his work : “I tried to take the pressure off by just having fun with it. If it can at least make a few people smile and spot a few of the little hidden treats then I’ll be happy”. His simple shapes, bright colours and strong visual sense of humour should work well with the random gibberish that’s been scribbled over the years, and I’m sure he’ll be keeping the profanity to a respectable level! So, despite the exhibition’s title, I don’t think there’s any need to panic at all, we’re in good hands.
http://www.thisistoy.com
+++++++++++++++++
q & a
How long have you lived in Manchester?
Pretty much all my life. I am originally from a tiny town that no one has heard of called Tisbury that looks like a massive block of grey on Google maps, but my awful Southern accent is long gone.
Who or What are your main inspirations?
Probably just the general public. The majority of them are absolutely bonkers. Just last night I got off the underground in Brixton and there was a man dancing to the classical music who then tried to hug the preacher at the top of the stairs. A few seconds later I was being whistled at and asked if I wanted to buy some crack followed by a guy at a burger stand spinning on the spot asking the vendor to "crank the music". I have worked in some shocking jobs in my time but all have them have given me stories I still use as inspiration.
What is your favourite thing to eat and drink whilst drawing?
I'm terrible for not eating when I work. I can be sat doing stuff and be absolutely starving and still not go downstairs to put something together. My favourite thing to eat in general is anything that someone else has made as it always tastes better for some reason. Maybe my cooking is rubbish and is probably why I couldn't even fight my way out of a spider web.
My drink of choice is Vimto without a doubt. I love that sugary goodness. All you see nowadays is everyone banging on about how great tea is all the time. It seems to be enjoying a height of fame at the moment. I think it makes you super cool or something. I reckon I should drink it more. When I was young I wouldn't touch the stuff unless it had 8 sugars in it, and Im not lying. Crunchy!
What is your favourite thing to draw?
I don't really know, I seem to draw random gibberish that is in my head that never really repeats. My sketchbooks are made up of just as much writing as it is drawing. My housemate picked up it up and had a browse and didn't have much to say about it. She just walked out of my room. On the train home today I drew three heads vomiting into each other and a man with a massive head trying to squeeze through a small door.
Favourite Manchester artist?
I'm a total recluse when it comes to any kind of Art community in Manchester. I recognise a few faces when I'm out but I don't know any of them. My favourite show at Common was Rob Baileys. He is a very clever man.
There's a great community feel 'thisistoy.com', how and why did you set this up?
There are so many reason I set it up. One of the main reasons was that I kept hearing from other artists I had come across at one point or another how much they were having a hard time just trying to make a living. It would seem that illustrators don't need to make any money ...or eat. Some of the ridiculous fees they were getting paid for a massive body of work really annoyed me. One of the French blokes I work with now created a massive campaign for a US ad agency that got binned off a few days before the release so he lost 3 months of pay for nothing. So I put a system in place with an agent who had worked in New York to provide support for a minimal fee to make the business sustainable to help promote young artists. From day one I didn't want it to be like any of those other rubbish agents who ask for a stupid registration fee and so on.
Fortunately the business was fairly easy to setup as the studio I used to work for (LOVE) decided to invest in the idea to help me get it off the ground which was an amazing break.
I wouldn't ask me about it when I'm drunk otherwise I'll start banging on about it for hours.
If you could pick one artist (dead or alive) to live with on a desert island who would it be?
Tough question! For someone who is alive it would be a toss up between Todd James and Geoff McFetridge. For the Dead folk it would be between Saul Bass and Alan Fletcher. To be ruthless I would probably end up going with Alan Fletcher or even Paul Rand. I don't know, I'm far too indecisive for these questions.
How does your work fit into common?
I'm not sure it does, but maybe that is why I hope it works. I just tried to take the pressure off by just having fun with it. If it can at least make a few people smile and spot a few of the little hidden treats then I'll be happy. Although I'm not sure I can be there on the launch party as it involves two things I hate more then anything. One is being the centre of attention and the other is being good socially.
Please describe your work in three words....
I asked my friend to answer this question and he said "Not always good" and "Definitely not funny" so now I'm off to a local high bridge.
1:55 PM
Powered by  | | English | | Albanian | | Arabic | | Bulgarian | | Catalan | | Chinese | | Croatian | | Czech | | Danish | | Dutch | | Estonian | | Filipino | | Finnish | | French | | Galician | | German | | Greek | | Hebrew | | Hindi | | Hungarian | | Indonesian | | Italian | | Japanese | | Korean | | Latvian | | Lithuanian | | Maltese | | Norwegian | | Polish | | Portuguese | | Romanian | | Russian | | Serbian | | Slovak | | Slovenian | | Spanish | | Swedish | | Thai | | Turkish | | Ukrainian | | Vietnamese |
|