My Charley Harper Cabinet
Last year there was a most wonderful alignment of creative opportunity in my life. We needed some more storage for various bits and pieces (a common requirement in an old victorian house for sure) and I had just discovered the stunning work of Mr Charley Harper. He created beautiful, stylized colourful illustrations of wildlife with the most balanced compositions and energy, using as few visual elements as possible. This poster is pure visual mastery. This is a style to which I aspire. It felt like I had just discovered the missing piece of my visual puzzle. Embarrassed by not being aware of Harper’s work before, inspiration and creative energy now overflowed. I needed an outlet. I had a newly purchased secondhand wall cabinet and some paint. There was only really one thing to do. A Charley Harper inspired wall cabinet celebrating Bristol!
Inspired by the shapes and composition of Harper, I decided to use a reduced colour palette so I could work in relief with the wood to create the shapes.
The imagery of the cabinet attempts to capture personal moods about living in Bristol. There is cool beauty of winter, sparse and seemly dead giving way to the rebirth of spring with its flowers and gentle breeze. Spending your best days enjoying the company of others in a park or a local drinking hole. A Bristol summer is spent by the river watching the massive seagulls play before the leaves fall and the nearby Squirrels dance among the trees.
All four seasons together.
Watching balloons fill the sky is a simple joy of living in Bristol. Raises a smile everything 🙂
My Charley Harper inspired homage to Bristol. A city I love.
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Learn more about the brilliant work of Charley Harper here