Art / music tee
‘Silly billy Bristol illustrator’ Turbo Island celebrates 10 years with a retrospective music tee exhibition
For a decade, Bristol illustrator Christopher Wright – better known as Turbo Island – has been creating what he calls “colourful and cocky t-shirts for the music geeks and cartoon freaks”.
While his designs have been worn all over the world, as an artist, Wright himself is a little less conspicuous, rarely giving interviews.
But the onset of this 10 year anniversary inspired him to put together his biggest show to date, which is also a retrospective of sorts – opening with a launch party at KIT FORM (beneath Jamaica St Studios) on April 19 and running for a month.
is needed now More than ever
Wright told Bristol24/7 a little more about where it all started for him as an illustrator, and what the upcoming exhibition will include:
Could you describe your background?
“I’ve always drawn things. The wrestlers, footballers and Ninja Turtles that I drew in my wet play book at primary school feel like the beginnings of what I do now. I didn’t plan on becoming an illustrator. It could’ve been fine art; it could’ve been graphic design. My art foundation year in Kent (where I grew up) is where I came out of my shell a bit and found kindred floppy haired folk that liked the same music as me. But even when studying it at UWE I never considered illustration as a career. I was just going through the motions and just wanted to work on nonsense projects with my mates.
“I’ve always been a bit of a music nerd and ended up doing posters for a bunch of friends and promoters. I felt like I was learning on the job but my thick black lines and bold colours made the posters pop out from a wall of boring, text-heavy club night posters. Those posters are what kept me drawing. Without them I think I might have stopped. I blagged a small space at Jamaica Street Studios soon after graduating. I barely used it to begin with and am surprised I didn’t get chucked out, but my legendary floor manager (RIP Lou) saw something in me. I’ve now been in the building, pretending to be an illustrator, for about 17 years.”
What were or are your own inspirations, and how do they inform your work?
“Obvious comic inspirations are The Beano and The Dandy but it’s the less obvious ones like Shiver & Shake and Cor!! that I get more from. I like the underdogs and I like drawings that are slightly ‘off’. It’s probably why I get a lot of satisfaction from outsider/folk art too.
“I’m a big fan of food packaging. Especially the branding in the advertising heyday (1950s-90s) that’s littered with ridiculous mascots to help peddle the humblest of products. And Billy the Fish from Viz magazine is also a bit of a hero of mine. A fish that plays football nicely sums up my inspirations. All this stuff heavily influences my work and I’m not afraid of stealing these characters and giving them a new lease of life in my own artworks (that often end up on a t-shirt).”
How would you characterise your artistic style?
“As much as I like creating my own surreal world and own my stupid characters, the manipulation of existing stuff from childhood is something I can’t seem to let go of. The hard work has been done for me. I enjoy regurgitating things. Stylistically though, my cartoony hand-drawn text is perhaps a hallmark of mine, often interacting with the rest of the image on posters and t-shirts. This has led to plenty of fun logo jobs over the years.”
Finally, can you give us a flavour of what people can expect from the upcoming exhibition?
“I’ve done exhibitions before but nothing much in Bristol and nothing this big. I’m chuffed I get to use this new space (KIT FORM) under my studio. It’s daringly close to the real Turbo Island, but I want people to visit my own Turbo Island, just for a month.
“What can people expect? I’ll quote from my own event page:
“Silly billy Bristol illustrator Christopher Wright has been on a relentless quest to expose the deepest and daftest corners of the music world through the medium of the humble cotton t-shirt. It’s about time he showed you absolutely everything in his ginormous wardrobe.
“A rare opportunity to study the absurd concoction of nostalgic nonsense and playful parody that have adorned the chests of music nerds across the globe for the last decade. And a chance to finally find out what it all means.”
Christopher Wright’s Turbo Island music tee exhibition is launching on April 19 with an opening party at KIT FORM (under Jamaica Street Studios) at 6-10pm which is free and unticketed. The exhibition will then be open Wednesday-Saturday 12-6pm until May 17th. For more information, visit www.headfirstbristol.co.uk or follow @turboisland.
Tickets to Turbotalk, the launch after party at Strange Brew, are also available from www.headfirstbristol.co.uk.
All photos: Christopher Wright (Turbo Island)
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