Frame not included with sale
Frame not included with sale
Frame not included with sale
Frame not included with sale
Comic Artist / Illustrator
Rookie studied at Goldsmiths College, London where he achieved a Honours Degree in Fine Art and Critical Theory, there he learnt the conceptual side of his journey through Art. He was also fully involved with the free party/warehouse scene during the 90s and part of a techno and jungle sound system that held events in London and various other places in Europe.
He practised as a DJ and produced flyers, posters (dropping artwork on anything, anywhere) and engineered large scale backdrops. The production was ‘by whatever means necessary’ but generally hand drawn or with photocopiers. He then moved into working for the games industry and Comic Strips which enabled him to get cash and get hold of hardware and software that he still uses today.
He is originally from North East London of Sicilian and Northern English descent, but spent the majority of his life growing up in Ipswich after being adopted by wonderful and completely loving parents, followed by several years living and working in London.
Rookie currently resides in Western Australia and has been there for about 16 years. He states that his work all comes from a certain sense of not really belonging anywhere, or least feeling that nothing exists forever, we should look for and enjoy the charm and elegance in our environments, no matter how ugly it may initially appear. The juxtaposition of having potentially so little yet being saved from the doors of ‘bad luck’ is fundamentally what effects him and why he creates. I’m one of the lucky ones. Appreciate the adulterated, the imperfections, he finds it difficult to step aside from that, with a deep yearning to belong somewhere.
His influences include Michael Craig Martin, Saul Bass, David Hockney, Bill Brant and Robert Crumb from a visual stand point. Literatural influences include Charles Bukowski, Jean Paul Satre, Phillip K Dick, George Orwell, Hunter S. Thompson. His musical inspirations include Drexciya, Jeff Mills, Boards of Canada, Aphex Twin, Kool Keith and lastly his film influences include Alfred Hitchcock, Akira Kurosawa, Wes Anderson, Paul Verhoeven and Jordan Peele.
Rookie tends to start with pen and ink on whatever piece of paper he has to hand (the realisation), then transfers digitally to either Photoshop or Illustrator files, he often then prints and rescans in order to degrade the image. He likes cude pixels and grew up with Arcade Machines, Atari's and ZX Spectrums, ultimately he loves the basic and raw aesthetic.
Rookie has a massive, unbridled urge to have a voice, add discussion and highlight how wonderful the world around you can be if you stop and spend time being in some form of presence. He's a humanist and enjoys peoples stories, but nothing is properly as advertised, he's trying to seek the truth, this is his existence, because it’s the only thing truely he knows and has passion for. He can’t imagine a life without it and believes what he's putting out there can generate the idea of inclusion, self belief, maybe some joy and vibrancy. Where would we be as a society without creatives? We are all running out of time here.
