Linocut Editorial Illustration
Before photography and print technology had made snap shots and scene of crime images possible newspapers relied upon illustrators to interpret and convey the story visually. There is a drama about many of these images that somehow takes us further into the narrative than the apparently neutral surface of the photograph.
The style of the linocuts is inspired by work of José Guadalupe Posada, Mexican printmaker famous for his political illustrations, who often used relief printing as medium.
Fat Cat
This illustration was inspired by series of articles in various newspapers regarding a huge gap in the top bank executives' salaries, which in the last 40 years surged by 4000%, compared to the average employee, who saw a rise of only 300% in the same period.
The illustration contemplates the shift in the wealth redistribution towards the top 1% of the society, represented here by the Fat Cat, while the rest of the population is left to beg for scraps, accumulating ever-growing debt. As a backdrop I decided to use the Occupy London anti-capitalist protests that took place on the steps of London's St. Paul's Cathedral in 2011.
Back from the Dead... to Kill his Father (hand-coloured linocut)
The story from the East London Advertiser about a man, who after heavy drinking session ends up in the hospital with a heart attack. After 3,5 hours on intensive care, with no blood flow into the brain, the doctors somehow managed to revive him. Yet nobody bothered to check his mental condition before releasing him. The man left the hospital with severe psychotic delusions, went home and torched it. His father and father's employee perished in the blaze.
Croctopus: Beast from the River Lea (hand-coloured linocut)
The story from the East London Advertiser about mysterious beast snatching geese from local river. The journalist even suggested that it might be crocodile! I'd like the number of the dealer supplying pot to East London Advertiser team, please!
