AOI World Illustration Awards Exhibition 2015

''Returning to Somerset House for a fourth year, the AOI World Illustration Awards Exhibition, this year for the first time in partnership with the Directory of Illustration, presents highlights from this year’s shortlist of contemporary illustration, entered by emerging and established talent to the Association of Illustrators’ (AOI) annual competition.
The shortlist reflects that the Awards have gone global and includes illustration from across the world, recognizing the exceptional work produced by illustrators internationally and promoting illustration as an essential contributor to global visual culture.
The exhibition features a unique range of work from the UK to USA, and South Korea to France, covering a wide breadth of practice, including books, design and editorial, to reflect the diverse disciplines within the industry.''

https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/visual-arts/aoi-world-illustration-awards

theAOI.com/awards

19 Oct 2015


Today I went on a little trip to London. It's always good to go back there to enjoy the atmosphere that is kind of special to me, to revisit some places full of great memories of five years living there and then to admire the calmness of my current location.
 This is my second time at Somerset House and I arrived here to review AOI World Illustration Awards Exhibition in partnership with Directory of Illustration.
I like the location and the architecture of this place. Terrace Rooms where the exhibition was placed were bright due to white walls and big windows letting in a lot of sunlight. Additionally there were some tiny lights high on ceiling and chandeliers, creating friendly, clean, professional environment and quite sophisticated aura above it all. However some of the works were really difficult to review or photograph due to light overflow. The shape and neoclassical style of the windows also added extra stateliness of the site that remained in harmony with the work exhibited.
The way curator organized the artworks made each one of them even more individual as there was no crowd and reasonable spacing between them was kept. Some were placed behind the glass in the centre of the room with more detail regarding the process of making and originals.
I think the posing frame made out of one of award winning graphics engaged visitors even more with the artwork and gave opportunity to have some fun with it. Sometimes exhibitions can very easily get overloaded with the amount of artefacts etc. what can make them a bit boring or simply difficult to contemplate with the long time required and many sensors to absorb. However in this case I particularly enjoyed the amount of work, the space and especially the diversity of it. It represented an international practice in quite a few separate fields, such as graphic design, editorial, advertising or books. It was also quite encouraging to see how open the classification was for profesionals (Professional Illustration) or students and recent graduates (New Talent). The fact, it was a competition including people like me brought me a bit closer to it and made it more interesting as it's all current and fresh.

The promotion graphic shown above by Aad Goudappel, used also for an article about autism, uses only salmon pink background to present fairly simple, black graphic image of a man/child with the 'uncovered', exposed brain following down to the heart as a key shape (in the same colour as surroundings). A tiny, oval, blue shape applied by the author looks to me a bit like a tear that possibly signifies suffering and contrasts with all the other elements. It's quite powerful and thought provoking.
Our way of thinking is the key to the perceptions of the environment we live in and everything around us, especially for people suffering from autism. I think this graphic stands out with its simplicity and limited colours. It's very representative and it can relate to the rest of the exhibit in some way. It may encourage people to look from different perspective and consider that  inconvenience of this upsetting mental condition may help us to gain access to the extraordinary capabilities of the brain (an article persuades that autism might be a natural step of evolution).
This is what contemporary art and design looks for, new and extraordinary approach.


The signage of the exhibition was the same for each work presented there. The bright white foam board was used to place short information for the visitors (author, title, method of making, category and basic explanation/purpose/inspiration). I think it was just enough information to neatly represent each artwork and. It was lacking the date... however I think all of them were made in 2015, so there was no really need for that. Possibly some more background information could be fitted there with smaller typeface for those who are really interested in particular work. Font used was very simple and clear for better visibility, I reckon.

Generally I have really enjoyed the exhibition. A lot of examples of work there have shown very complex, incredible pieces of hand drawn or digital illustration which was truly impressive. Great attention to detail!

 

 

I especially enjoyed books design illustration and works involving traditional approach like the one on the following photographs. I think the women on a side made a good three-dimensional feel and added a value to the whole composition. So as doves flock flying away from the picture. Besides I appreciated its dynamic and intensive colour palette. Really fresh and contemporary. Unfortunately due to big amount of sunlight coming into the gallery room I wasn't able to take the best picture, as lots of reflection occurred on the glass covering the artwork. It was part recreation of original artwork made to celebrate ''29th anniversary of prestigious store department reflecting the exclusive shopping experience through various mixed media installations.''

 



Gail Armstrong
Commissioned by SOGO, Hong Kong
Coloured, patterned and textured paper of various weights, glue and embossing tool.
Advertising//Professional



 

 

I really appreciated the illustration by Benji Davies for the book titled 'Grandad's Island'. It reminded me of one of great movies - 'Life is Beautiful' directed by Roberto Benigni, which also tells a touching story that emphasises affirmation of life, even when loosing something important.  ''Picture book to convey a tender but powerful grandparent/grandchild relationship through colour, whilst telling a story that deals with loss in a comforting and life affirming way'' (signage). Last scene on the first photograph reminds me Disney's 'Lion King' while Simba meets Timon and Pumba and starts his life in the jungle.

Benji Davies
Grandad's Island
Brush, pen, paper and digital
Children's Books//Professional
Commissioned by Simon&Schuster UK



 

'Crayola' by Turine Tran is possibly my favourite work out of the whole exhibition. It looks three-dimensional and uses just one colour. It shows the word of artist's imagination within one simple particular object - red crayon. I like how simple and innovatitive the concept is. The question written in the bottom corner 'What's in your Crayola?' engages this artwork with the spectator and possibly forces a bit of imagination. It seems simple but in the same time it's very complex drawing. I promotes traditional approach as well.
''Brand awareness promotion using a limited palette to celebrate the craft of drawing in a visually asserting way with the concept of 'unrolling' the colour pencil'' (signage).

Turine Tran
Crayola
Red coloured Crayola pencil onto sketching paper
Commissioned by Leo Burnett for Crayola, Vietnam
Advertising//Professional

 

 

 And another illustration for children's books, 'Half a Man' by Gemma O'Callaghan. It seems like another very touching story and besides I love the graphics, colours and clear edge on all objects. I think it was quite clever to put the font - title, slightly behind the picture. It's got a meaning to it and it matches the book and its content.  

'Series of illustrations for Michael Morpurgo's book about a grandfather, who as a young man was disfigured and how his physical and mental scars affected his life and the lives of those closest to him'' (signage).

 

Gemma O'Callaghan
Half a Man
Isograph pens, acrylic and screen printing inks
Commissioned by Walker Books
Children's Books//New Talent

This time I actually enjoyed taking a picture with the reflections caused by the sunlight. In my opinion it gave my photograph quite unusual and interesting effect (below).