A stark message beautifully drawn. Click for larger image ... Turtles | Albatross |
Tony Common, the graphic genius behind countless screen presentations, has brought his skills to create a disturbing body of work, Sea of Plastic, in the hope of helping to save wildlife from our waste.
A Japanese fisherman on the Nagara River is contentedly dozing in his small boat as his tame cormorants bring him his catch, but his basket is full of plastic.
A female albatross, back from a long hunting expedition, settles into the grassy niche that holds her nest, and feeds her young the results of her quest. But unwittingly she is killing her own offspring. Instead of the small fish she believes she has brought them, she is feeding them the various pieces of plastic that have replaced the fish in the ocean off the southern coast of Australia.
In a tropical ocean, turtles are beset by synthetic string and shredded polythene, and choke on discarded food wrapping, near a beach covered in multi-coloured plastic detritus.
These images are just three of 18 paintings by the artist Tony Common that appear in Sea of Plastic. The images are lovely, with bright colours and meticulously drawn details, but their beauty has an ugly message. They are the artist's graphic lesson, aimed at school children, in the strangulation of nature by our plastic waste, a book and an exhibition that he hopes will tour the country.
An ideal children's gift book for Christmas.
Author: William Boyd introduction
Artist: Tony Common
Publisher: Handheld Publications, 2018
Number of pages: 56
Format: Soft Cover; Full Colour illustrations
Size: 11" x 15" (290mm x 380mm)
ISBN: 9781999987022