What is your name or artist pseudonym?
Ed Cheverton
How would you describe your practice?
I'm an illustrator and artist predominantly working with collage to make pictures, stories or collections about other worlds, nice characters and abstract spaces. Collage gives me an opportunity to be very playful with image making, bringing separate and contrasting elements together to form a new 'whole'. I like bringing forth joy in my work; the things I make are made with love and excitement. I like people to feel those things too when they look at the work. I have passing intense obsessions with subject matter (for example watering cans, tea pots, specific ways to make a character with specific shapes) and will play with these themes I ran out of ideas, but I try and keep the joy constant throughout. I've been constantly making and self publishing zines throughout my practice, I find these a really great format to collating and collecting these obsessions or specific ideas.
Do you have some of your artwork examples you could share with us?
I have a large spread of my work on my website: www.edwardcheverton.
co.uk , also my Instagram @edcheverton. Some of my zines are available online, but also at https://goodpress.co.uk/. Over the past few years I've been making some record covers for the great Cold Blow Records label: https://coldblowrecords.com/ .
What/ who are your artistic inspirations?
I find a lot of inspiration just in day to day life. I always like the unexpected/unusual compositions or shapes you find when on a walk, or just passing through town. Unintentional markings on a wall that form a beautiful drawing, or the shape of a bleached out sticker on a lamp post. I find collections and categorizing things a very pleasing activity, also discovering other people's collections. The artist Micah Lexier (who's work is an inspiration in it's own right!) has a wonderful Instagram account showcasing his collection of found eBay photos. They are usually somewhat hard to parse shapes or objects; things that you need to stare at a bit longer than usual to understand. This feeling in general is something I really like, and am constantly stiving for in my work. Artists like Nigel Peake, José Quintanar (who's boat drawings are maybe my favourite project of all time) and Julien Gobled are big inspirations, and I think their work embodies this above concept too.
Do you have any interests outside of art and design?
Music and cooking are pretty big parts of my life. I've been running a radio show at Illo Radio https://illo.radio/Ed-
Cheverton called Sublime Nothing which an ongoing soundscape tour of sorts, about all things spacey and Sci Fi. I also really enjoy just making playlists, I think they are an analog of sorts for the same way I like to make pictures; lots of different elements arranged together in some sort of order to make a whole. Cooking is probably the least connected thing to artwork I love. I've considered making work about cooking, recipes or food, but I think I like that part of my life being totally separate. A true hobby. One of my favourite things is deep diving on recipes on YouTube, and making a big list of things I want to make at the weekend, ultimately only managing to do one or two.
Do you have any plans/ideas for thinks you would love to do in the future?
I'm currently working on a children's book about playgrounds and playground design. I'm in the final artwork stage, but the research stage was one of the most wonderful experiences I've had in project. For such a seemingly simple subject, there is some fascinating science and theory around it. I usually have a few zine ideas kicking around in various stages of completion. I've been making a series of darker, more intense collages reflecting my growing obsession with Death/Black Metal. Big goal at the moment is to do a album cover for a metal band. I've also got a massive body of explorative mixed media collage and drawing work I made over the pandemic that I think would make a really great solo exhibition, I just need to do it! In general, I just want to keep enjoying making things and finding new ways to do it.
Prints & Zines available to buy HERE
