Thinking about ways in which I could make work either with, or about, string, consumed my life for, at least, a solid 48 hours during summer. It occupied my mind whilst I sold sliced meat to bitter elderly customers, made pork, dripping and crab salad sandwiches for business men with disturbing sandwich preferences, and whilst I served pies to inebriated rugby fans. Mentally, I had devised, what felt like, 101 uses for a ball of string. Naturally, this became the title for a book work, which contains 13 cherry-picked uses, each presented on a double page combining image and text.
A book of my dad’s, ‘Mystery Stories’ by Enid Blyton, became the shell for my illustrated book. Illustrations in ink, paint and collage, exploit, as well as, bastardise the beauty of the original book, which was read to me as a child.
As well as the retro aesthetics of the book, I chose the book because it possessed a ‘used’ tactile quality, that makes reading the book an ‘experience’, and I feel that this worn, tactile quality (even down to the smell of the book) gives my illustrations a sense of validation – Interaction is required from the reader to hold the work and turn pages, extinguishing any distance between the viewer and the illustrations.
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