Tom de Freston - Small Worlds
A good illustration is like a perfectly paired glass of wine. It doesn’t just complement your meal, it enhances it. Paired to a story, illustrations add a creative layer that rocket boosts your imagination. In the rare instance when they might be seen in isolation, the best illustrations make you want to search out the story they support, and this show has left me eagerly intrigued to discover the tales that inspired the work.
Just look at that illuminated lighthouse with a young girl fishing from the top. Or maybe she’s a prisoner, lowering something by rope to an unseen ally?
What about those Antarctic explorers with ski poles and packs... what are they dragging behind them? I’m hoping they’ll encounter penguins!
Who is that long haired figure looming over a hunched up boy on a bed? Is this a scary scene or a moment of mother’s solace? I suspect the sooty shadows might be a clue.
You’ll notice that soot, scratches and smudges appear frequently across all the works. These dark and atmospheric effects are the long shadows from a fire that destroyed de Freston’s studio a month before the first 2020 lockdown. Twelve years’ worth of work was lost within hours, but Tom marks that moment as a new beginning that has informed his art and impacted his illustrations ever since. Often literally. Many of the illustrations for ‘Julia and the Shark’ were created using ash and other fragments from the fire.
Scattered throughout the show are 3D pieces that also echo destruction: burnt books, charred remnants and a few very large abstracts. They’re interesting but mainly just set decoration for the main presentation about the illustrations, which are so very, very good. They damn well better be when they were made for two books written by best-selling, award-winning author Kiran Millwood Hargrave — who also happens to be Tom’s wife. A third set of illustrations on display were created by Tom for the 25th anniversary of the classic 1998 children’s book Skellig.
Often when I experience art my mind makes up a story to go with what I see. The same has happened here, except someone else’s story prompted these works in the first place. Now I have to decide whether I choose to stick with my own imagination or read the source material.
Plan your visit
‘Small Worlds’ runs until 09 September.
Visit no20arts.com and follow @no20arts on Instagram for more info about the venue.
Visit tomdefreston.co.uk and follow @tomdefrestonart on Instagram for more info about the artist.
🖼️ Want more art? Visit the What’s On page to see a list of recommended shows, sorted by closing date. Don’t miss ‘em!