Bat Country Collective and friends bring a range of imaginative responses to the theme ‘When Hell Breaks Loose’ with new series of prints and illustrated objects. The London and Stockholm based illustration group share a love of dark humour that they use here to investigate forces brewing beneath the surface of everyday life.
Bat Country Collective is Åsa Wikman, Karin Soderquist, and Ashley Amery. Fellow illustrators Lucy Kirk and James Swain join them in this exhibition. http://www.batcountrycollective.com
Åsa Wikman is a multi-disciplinary Designer and Illustrator who lives and works in London. Humour and imagination are important in her work, which often has a quirky twist. Åsa works with hand drawn and digital illustration on projects ranging from illustration for print, apparel and products, to murals, shop window displays, packaging and children’s books. www.asawikman.com
Karin Soderquist is an illustrator and artist based in Stockholm, Sweden. She graduated from Camberwell College of Arts in London in 2011 and has been freelancing since then. Clients include Leopard Förlag, Canadian Family, Real Simple Magazine, Action!Aid, SWE, Anorak Magazine, Computer Arts and Selfridges. Karin’s work is a mix between hand-made and digital illustration and at the moment her favourite thing to draw is very muscular women (and fruits!). www.karinsoderquist.com
Ashley Amery is a London-based artist and illustrator. Drawing forms the basis of her practice, which she uses across a range of media from printmaking to gouache paintings, to digital design and lettering. She is interested in the aesthetic of craft, story-telling, and domesticity, elements she uses to expose the strangeness of familiar things. She earned her MA in Book Arts from Camberwell College of Art. www.ashleyamery.com
James Swain completed a BA in illustration at Cardiff Metropolitan University and is currently living and working in London. Favouring traditional illustration techniques, he specializes in printmaking, particularly linocut and screen print. He is inspired by unusual narratives and tries to weave his own into the intricate details of his prints. www.jamesswainillustration.com
Lucy Kirk is a ceramicist and illustrator. Her ceramic work brings to life her illustrations by way of creating a three-dimensional drawing. With a penchant for men in pants and babes in bikinis, Lucy always manages to find the beauty in the everyday beast. Using a strictly monochrome palette her work has sophistication with a playful and humorous feel. www.lucy-kirk.co.uk