Brighton based artist Craig Shuttlewood experiments with surfaces and layers to create colourful paintings overlaid with quirky illustrations. Craig is inspired by everyday objects and his lively imagination. Here Craig tells about his work, favourite artists and future plans…

Did you always know you wanted to be an artist?
I believe so. I was never going to be a rocket scientist but loved to draw and think in pictures. From art college I went on to the Kent Institute of Art and Design to complete a fine art and illustration degree during which I had sold work and been signed by an illustration agent.

How would you describe your work?
My work is like a visual diary, so it’s a piece of me without being personal or private.
My work is made first by painting an abstract base and thinking about colour. The next stage is adding collected material such as wallpaper, maps and anything that I find interesting. Finally I add illustrative elements on top. There is usually lots going on and I try to make each piece light hearted and approachable. You will see buildings of all shapes and sizes, lollypop trees, a girl with a cat dress (who may or may not be flying a kite), owls in a tree, flying saucers, cup cakes, ice creams and more.

Who is your favourite artist?
While I was at college I would have answered with Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Paul Klee and David Hockney to name a few. Here in Brighton there is plenty of talent but one of my favourite artists is Roger Cecil from Wales.

Your earlier works were more abstract and have gradually become more figurative – was this a conscious change?
Earlier works were certainly more abstract, at times purely abstract. I was interested in neglected walls, rusted surfaces and what lurks behind wallpaper hung years previously. However, this meant original artwork was ‘darker’ and by nature had a negativity about it that was less approachable.

I still like to focus on surface and layers but my work now has much more colour and a positive feel that attracts a wider audience.

What does 2012 hold in store for Craig Shuttlewood?
I will be exhibiting in London at 20/21 at The Royal College of Art in February and at The Affordable Art Fair in March. In addition, for the first time we are taking part in Artist Open Houses at home in Brighton throughout May which is both hard work and exciting! We have a great range of artists involved working in ceramics, jewellery, original paintings, screen prints, knitted creatures and textiles.

Also, I am working on several children’s books (I won’t give anything away) and new limited edition screen prints after the success of ‘Angels & other flying things’ and ‘Six lost owls’.

Find Craig Shuttlewood’s full collection on CultureLabel here.

David Shrigley‘s new exhibition ‘Brain Activity’ opened on the 1st of February at the Hayward gallery.

David Shrigley is best known for his cartoons and animations which make subversive yet witty comments about our everyday lives. The exhibition showcases some 175 of Shrigley’s works, including 80 drawings which have never been exhibited before. If you’re a fan of Shrigley’s crude cartoons the exhibition will offer you a new spectrum of Shrigley comedy through his new work in taxidermy, sculpture and photography.

Dr Cliff Lauson, Curator of the Hayward Gallery said: “David Shrigley: Brain Activity for the first time brings together two decades of selected artworks from one of Britain’s most witty and amusing artists Shrigley’s acute sense of humour brings to life all of his works which range from taxidermied animals to his well known drawings.”

Having spent some time on the exhibition website the CultureLabel team can’t wait to head South of the river to check out Shrigley’s new work. We’ve developed a morbid fascination for Shrigley’s decapitated animals…

The exhibition catalogue features an interview with the artist by writer Dave Eggers and essays by artist Jonathan Monk, Martin Herbert and Cliff Lauson. Included with the catalogue, is an exclusive 7-inch picture disc with two new spoken word tracks created specifically for the book and presented in exclusive screen-printed packaging. Find the catalogue on CultureLabel here.

Take some of Shrigley’s witty humour home with you in the shape of plectrums, postcards, heroine and cocaine salt and pepper shakers and don’t make promises you can’t keep duvet cover.

Find the exhibition’s merchandise on CultureLabel here.

Artist Michael Worobec creates intricate and colourful paintings from his studio in Hackney Wick, East London. Here Michael gives us an insight into his artistic practice and his fascination for organic matter…

What inspires your artistic practice?
I am interested in bringing the mass produced into the realm of the one off. The dogmatic urge of the repeat and the endless variation and complexity of a pattern interests my aesthetic at present. I play with these rules and make decisions on colour and shape, deciding on the balance and counter balance of all these mass variables. I deconstruct the scheme of the repeat.

My paintings are metaphors for development and growth. The individual and the society. We exist, flourish and fail; yet we all contribute to the tapestry of life.

I love colour, I am inspired by Graphic art and the exuberance found in the visual delights of Pop art and popular culture, past and present.

You describe you work as organic abstracts, what attracts you to organic matter?
I am interested in the poetic and languid qualities of organic shapes; the soft lines mirror nature, its ebb and flow. I hope that these flowing lines enhance my works. The term abstract can be a bit cold, bringing to mind the white light of modernity, which I love.

The organic element is employed to evoke nature, and bring a sense of humanity into these non-figurative works. I love the clean and cool elements of abstraction and its bedfellow modernity. I feel we in Britain are afraid of this term and seek the old, the safe, and the character elements of tweeness. The word, ‘character’ usually evoked by people when describing houses and homes is an example of this fear.

Do you remember the first work of art you made?
Yes. I think it was a painting of a lovely rich red car with big fat black wheels when I was in my first year at Primary school. I love beautiful designed cars to this day.

You have held many different jobs before becoming a full time artist; adventure playground worker, theatre and textile designer, a teacher etc…, have these experiences shaped your artistic practice?
Without doubt these varied roles have directed me into different worlds of experience. I have always been an artist. In every job I have utilised my skills and abilities. It is like a fixation, I express myself and interact with people with creativity as a conduit for me to bring out my personality and character. I love people. I love diversity. I am at my happiest surrounded by good company. The ability to get immersed in a good and absorbing conversation is my idea of happiness and contentment. I love a good talker.

Find Michael Worobec’s full collection on CultureLabel here.

The Strange Face Project brings a forgotten version of Nick Drake‘s Cello Song to life through Michael Burdett’s artistic vision.

In the 1970′s Michael Burdett was a post boy for Island Records when he came across a tape of Nick Drake’s music destined for the bin. He’d been charged with the task of throwing some tapes into a skip, but one tape in particular caught his eye. “I picked it up because it had Nick Drake, Cello Song and with love written on the box. The words ‘with love’ made me think that it had to be Nick’s handwriting and on that basis I couldn’t let it go to the dump.”

By the time Burdett got home he had forgotten about the tape, and it laid un-listened to for 20 years. When Burdett finally listed to the tape he was astonished by his discovery of an unknown version of Cello Song, a piece from Drake’s debut album Five Leaves Left.

Released version of Cello Song by Nick Drake

But rather than sharing his discovery, Burdett devised the Strange Face Project: We are living in a world where recorded music is distributed so casually and freely it’s almost lost its value. However, here was an opportunity to use a recording to create a very personal moment for a number of people and maybe give them an incredibly special memory.

Burdett travelled up and down the country with the recording and a set of headphones and offered 200 people the opportunity to listen to the piece. Of the 200 people Michael approached 167 said yes; city workers, farmers, scientists, hairdressers, musicians, tattooists, journalists, celebrities & he asked them all. Randomly stopping them in the street, at their places of work and in their homes, whether they knew of Drake’s material or not. The lucky few to hear the unknown Cello song were photographed as part of the project.

Michal Burdett’s photography of the Strange Faces Project is on display at The Idea Generation Gallery from the 27th of January till the 12 February.

Find more of Michael Burdett’s photography and iconic portraits of Nick Drake by Keith Morris on CultureLabel.com here.