Last week I slogged through the snow to the Bond Street studio of in-demand Brighton illustrator, Helen Cann, to find out more about her intriguing fan paintings of scenes from Brighton bar culture. After a reviving cup of tea, I managed to stop shivering long enough to switch on my tape recorder…
Can you explain why you chose to make the paintings fan-shaped?
A lot of my work is about communication and how reading words affects your reaction to the image. My previous work was about retro graphics – I was really interested in posters, ephemera and packaging. I did a series on advertising and I’ve done another series about propaganda posters.
I did the fan pictures to try to get away from the retro ‘thing’ and to do something very contemporary, but also I was interested in fans being a means of communication. In the 18th Century there was a whole language of fans, and the way you moved your fan might mean ‘I love you’ or ‘Go away’ or ‘We are being watched’. The fan pictures are about body language and the way people communicate without words.
The fan shape is almost like being in an awkward shaped pub. Having to tuck yourself in somewhere…
Yes. I like being able to crop things in a weird way, and the movement from left to right. In this one, the bar at the back is obviously not photographic and has been morphed, pushed… it looks almost like a ship. And the dog is not on the same plane… I really like playing with that. What’s the relationship between the dog and the people? Who loves who? Who’s watching who? I find people-watching fascinating.
Yes, when I first saw the fans in an Open House exhibition, I was struck by how they portrayed real Brighton life as opposed to the romanticised West Pier seafront stuff or the poppy, graf version of Brighton. I thought, someone actually lives here…
Bars in Brighton are just full of interesting looking people and that’s something I love. But that’s also kind of a stereotype, isn’t it? People look so different. It’s very open and you can dress however you want to. That gives me a lot of opportunity to put characters in my pictures.
I don’t know if you’ll like this association, but the work reminds me of Beryl Cooke. In the way she picked out details, studying people in her local pub for many years.
Really? No one’s said that before! It’s similarly observational, I suppose… The drawing doesn’t look like that.
Your people are a lot thinner! You’ve lived in Brighton for eight years, but have you been influenced by other places, other scenes in the past?
No, Brighton’s very special to me. When I came to Brighton I started working in this way. Previously it had all been watercolour and collage, which is my book illustration style, so Brighton obviously sparked something off in me.
So what’s next?
I’ve begun making a series
about urban fairy stories. Here’s a contemporary Red Riding Hood. It’s very observational, because I took pictures of the graffiti along the road here in Central Brighton, though it’s not a direct copy. I like the idea of contemporary people and a communication of words or text to make links and narrative stories. The wolf is Brazilian graffiti style – this patterned black and white. It’s very graphic and very decorative, as is a lot of my book illustration.
To see more of Helen’s work and get in touch, check out her website – http://www.helencann.co.uk/.
Written by Jo Dimbleby
