Pick Me Up Exhibition Review

On Sunday 25th of April I attended the Pick Me Up exhibition at Somerset House in London with two of my good friends James and Caz. I first noticed it featured in Creative Review magazine and since it has been a while (too long) since I last a) saw an exhibition, and b) saw the lovely James and Caz, it seemed like a perfect opportunity to satisfy both desires. Seeing as James and Caz are both creatives too, it was a good day out for us all.

After fighting through the London Marathon spectators where James took some photographs for his portfolio (Caz and I laughed as James ogled one of the official photographer's lens) we moved on to The Gourmet Pizza Co on the South Bank where we had semi-alfresco tasty pizza and nice cold beer. More pictures were taken of the sand artists on the beach of the Thames, and we ambled (I was regretting my choice of footwear by now, damn you uncomfortable trainers!) on to Somerset House.

Adult entry was only £5 which, especially after seeing the whole exhibition, we thought was a very reasonable price indeed. The first section included prints from the likes of Andy Gilmore (pictured top left), king of the rainbow coloured vector porn - if you like that sort of thing!; Alex Trochut, whose slick type based work oozed fluidity and coolness; and the comedic doodley graphics of Mr. Bingo (pictured below), which range from clever observations on stereotypes to the utterly nonsensical.

There was also an area where the visitors could participate in printmaking, where blocks and inks and 'messy workers' awaited your instructions to create your own simple print to your design. Further through the exhibition there were features from collectives such as Le Gun, Print Club London and Evening Tweed. There were demonstrations of screen printing, prints for sale, books, postcards, t-shirts, and more.

With such a wide variety of contemporary illustrators and graphic designers exhibiting their work, there was definitely something for everyone. I saw many young creatives like James, Caz and myself, alongside older folk, geeks, fashionistas, students and parents with their little toddlers. It was refreshing to see a collection of people that varied as much as the artwork on display.

The main inspiration I think I took away from the day, and indeed my weekend with James and Caz, was not to be too precious about creating work. There was a lot of worth that was simple, messy, almost scrappy, but they all worked in their own right and in context with the other works around them.

Someone once told me in reference to being an author: You can only call yourself a writer if you write. I suppose the same thing can be said about art and illustration in that you need to continuously make work, and keep the juices flowing, to call yourself and artist or illustrator. No matter what the 'finished pieces' look like, they are still the proof of your profession!

James' work http://www.jamesbooth.net
Caz's work http://www.cazlock.com

Alex Trochut http://www.alextrochut.com
Andy Gilmore http://www.birdbrid.com
Le Gun http://www.legun.co.uk
Evening Tweed http://www.eveningtweed.com
London Print Club http://www.printclublondon.com/

More Pick Me Up artist information at http://www.somersethouse.org.uk/visual_arts/pick_me_up/default.asp