Amelia’s Magazine | Camberwell College of Art MA Illustration 2014 Final Show Review

Camberwell MA Illustration Jady Ong 1

Illustration by Jady Ong

Earlier in July I headed to Camberwell College of Art on Peckham Road to take a look at the MA Illustration Final Show. I admired and enjoyed the fact that the students from this postgraduate programme had created a custom website and twitter account specifically for the show. I also loved their simple but striking logo design for the show which had also been made into stickers and placed on the floors of corridors and steps of staircases in the college building to guide the visitor to their work. Here is a selection of the work which most took my fancy and also provided inspiration for my own illustrating practice.

Camberwell MA Illustration Jady Ong

I truly enjoyed Jady Ong’s large black and white pieces depicting figures with animal heads in dreamy narrative scenes, but totally fell in love with her sketchbook. In it I found much simpler, but gorgeously effective, collages of anthropomorphized animals which spoke straight to my collage-loving heart.

Monalisa_Camberwell_MA_Illustration_2014_Graduation_show_Illustration_by_Marja_de_Sanctis

There was something in Marja de Sanctis’ illustrations which brought to mind Frida Khalo’s work. I loved her version of The Mona Lisa.

Camberwell MA Illustration Linlin Cui 4

The next group of works which I found mesmerising were Linlin Cui’sFalling Women‘. These women float in greenish waters, as if in a cosmic liquid womb, with their umbilical cords still attached to their bellies, connecting them perhaps to their essential human nature, before all the subsequent add-ons.

Camberwell MA Illustration Fox by David Surman

I thought this stunning, also floating, Fox by David Surman totally stole the show in that particular room of the exhibition. It is part of a series of illustrations to accompany Christina Rosetti’s classic poem ‘The Goblin Market‘.

Camberwell MA Illustration Marina Muun

Among the course graduates was Amelia’s Magazine contributor Marina Muun. The series of works produced for the show is called ‘Horizons‘ and is ‘centered around perception of external stimuli and the ability to match visions and experiences to a deeper knowledge within‘.

Camberwell MA Illustration Augusta Akerman

I liked how Augusta Akerman’s elegant repeat patterns for textiles or wallpaper, such as ‘The Salmon Run‘, explore cycles within the animal kingdom and often raise awareness around endangered species. A few of her patterns are also inspired by David Attenborough’sLife on Earth‘ series, which I am also a big fan of!

Camberwell MA Illustration Hyojin Hwang

South Korean Hyojin Hwang is interested in the relationship between plants, buildings and people and merges them together in powerful compositions such as this.

Camberwell MA Illustration emily nash

This book by Emily Nash contained a plethora of fascinating narrative scenes inspired by folk tales and current affairs.

Camberwell MA Illustration Eleanor Percival

I loved this image by Eleanor Percival, whose work is heavily influenced by mythology, depicting Aphrodite in her sacred grove gathering enchanted apples.

Camberwell MA Illustration Qianqian Zhang

I found the contrast created by small dense areas of colourful forms placed within a large expanse of white in Qianqian Zhang’s very appealing.

Camberwell MA Illustration Sean McSorley

English literature graduate Sean McSorley showed images which reflected an interest in early-mid twentieth century cinema and literature.

Camberwell MA Illustration pray-for-nothing-by-Fay-Huo

Fay Huo’s large pieces were very accomplished and interesting to look at both from far away, as well as zooming in to examine smaller details.

Camberwell MA Illustration Jamie Lang

The archetype of The Fool has always held a fascination for me and I found Jamie Lang’s version beautiful.

Camberwell MA Illustration Hammer Chen happy-elixir-shopping1

Hammer Chen delighted me with her ‘Happy Elixir Shopping 1‘ in which this female shopper seems to have eyes like torches, as if searching in the darkness for the next thing to buy.

Camberwell MA Illustration Sungyoon Jung Punishment

More eyeballs shooting out yellow matter came from Sungyoon Jung’s piece called ‘Punishment‘, which despite its bright, comical style still looked very sinister.

Camberwell MA Illustration Martina Paukova bedroom

This was a striking composition by Martina Paukova who explores the world of sculpted bodies a lot in her work.

Camberwell MA Illustration nina schulze

Nina Schulze’s surreal female figures are inspired by fashion as well as dream visions.

Camberwell MA Illustration Evelyn Albrow

I loved Evelyn Albrow’s expressive use of ink.

Camberwell MA Illustration June He

I was also very impressed by June He’s series of works entitled ‘A Prototype Myth World in Hallucination 1-9‘ in which he combines various symbols from different cultures to create a new mythology, but was a little disappointed I could not find a website for this work.

Camberwell MA Illustration Chris Kiesling

Gorgeous print techniques and shapes were found on Chris Kiesling’s monochromatic offerings.

Camberwell MA Illustration Alice Ferrow

I was taken by this, also monochrome, piece by Alice Ferrow whose work depicted folklore themes mostly in gouache.

Camberwell MA Illustration Hannah Prebble

And ending back in colour with these fun creatures by Hannah Prebble. I particularly enjoyed Hannah’s Tumblr site, which is a very lively and inspiring blog.

Photographs of images in the exhibition by Maria Papadimitriou; work images courtesy of graduates.

Categories ,Alice Ferrow, ,Armando Mesias, ,Augusta Akerman, ,Camberwell College of Art, ,Chris Kiesling, ,David Attenborough, ,David Surman, ,Degree Show, ,Eleanor Percival, ,Emily Nash, ,Evelyn Albrow, ,Fay Huo, ,Frida Kahlo, ,Graduate Show, ,Hammer Chen, ,Hannah Prebble, ,Hyojin Hwang, ,illustration, ,Jady Ong, ,Jamie Lang, ,June He, ,Linlin Cui, ,MA Graduate Show, ,Maria Papadimitriou, ,Marina Muun, ,Marja de Sanctis, ,Martina Paukova, ,Nina Schulze, ,Qianqian Zhang, ,Sean McSorley, ,Student summer shows, ,Sungyoon Jung

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