bocs

Poked Studio is Jonathan Ball, an illustrator and graphic designer living in South Wales, “inspired by lo-brow art forms such as cartoons, retro video games, urban art and cute monsters, creating fantasy worlds and characters.”

When I first discovered Poked Studio’s work they instantly made me smile, and in the case of his “murdered fruit” they made me laugh out loud. His cute, quirky and sometimes macabre illustrations appealed to my visual senses as well as my sense of fun and I began to notice his work in all sorts of places. Poked Studio has an impressive list of clients including the BBC, MTV, Sony Playstation and the National Library of Wales. His work also features as the desktop wallpaper on another bocs member’s computer.

Discovering that he was Welsh and a native of Cardiff was a pleasant surprise. I believe that Poked Studio is a prime example of high-calibre Welsh art with true international appeal.

Poked Studio is Sally Kwong’s choice for the christmas bocs nadolig exhibition.

Well, just got back from the gruelling trek down to Cardiff to pick up some pieces for the christmas bocs nadolig exhibition from two of the bocs choice artists, Robert Pepperell and Poked Studio. Surely there should be an easier way to get from North Wales down to South Wales?

Anyway, whilst I was in the Cardiff School of Art and Design, looking for Robert Pepperell, I had a good nosy and peeked into the studios, it looks like they do some interesting stuff down there. The pick-up there was relatively quick, even if there was a hairy moment in the lift.

After a spot of sushi, we went round to Poked Studio and picked up two of his pieces, the cloud’s revenge and March of Progress. Whilst I was there, I got to have a nice chat with Jon, met his partner and asked lots of questions about his work and how to work as a graphic artist/illustrator.

It was unfortunate that whilst I was trying to show Jon some of the photos from Dan Ponting (one of the artists we’ve had in the past) when the broken image on Dan’s website came up, just as his partner walked in. She must have thought I was showing him some strange stuff.

I’m really thankful that they gave me so much time… I hope I didn’t get in the way too much.

Robert Pepperell is Meirion Alan Ginsberg’s choice and
Poked Studio is Sally Kwong’s choice for the christmas bocs nadolig exhibition.