Oh, regrets. If only I’d ignored my parents’ chiding and persevered with my brief childhood obsession — drawing glasses and moustaches on pictures from the Sunday supplement magazines — who knows where I would be now?
Maybe exhibiting my work at The Book Club in East London alongside graphic designer, illustrator and fashion mag vandal Joe Cruz.
Glossy editorial pictures are a particular favourite of the Brit; his long-standing interest in fashion stems from his grandmother, who owned a North London factory which made garments for designers including the irreverent characters Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen.
Cruz equalises the culled images by processing them into black and white, removing or confusing preconceptions of race and gender. Thus discoloured, they are then manipulated further in an experimental way which Cruz can repeat numerous times with copies of the same image. Pastel and neon line drawings or bold blocks of colour are introduced, raising questions of youth and beauty, celebrity and physical perfection. The Book Club show runs from 4 September to 18 October.
