Alex Murdoch
I was born in Cardiff, went to university in London, travelled solo around USA when I was about 19, trained as an actor at École Philippe Gaulier, started an indie theatre company and got into illustration via that.
My artistic interest lies in visual storytelling and improvisation.
My theatre work has been non-scripted and I use my sketchbooks to visualise narratives. My company Cartoon de Salvo has played everywhere from tiny village halls and cliff tops in Cornwall, from proper producing houses to allotments, to Edinburgh, Glastonbury and Hong Kong International Festivals. Recently we trained in San Francisco to improvise a whole story in one night and the resulting show Hard Hearted Hannah and Other Stories was in the Telegraph’s Top Ten Comedy Shows of 2008 and this summer is part of Edinburgh’s British Council Showcase.
Working fast (drawing spontaneously, collaging with found stuff and processing print) helps me get under the fingernails of the emotional content or atmosphere of a project. At the advice of an art class tutor who described my images as ‘punk bumpkin’ I went on to study Illustration at London College of Communication. I like to create images which are surprising or curious but ultimately accessible and funny. I like finding visual solutions for ideas and for this reason my work can be at home in editorial or publishing.
I’ve recently been invited to be a resident artist with Proboscis where I’m commissioned to illustrate and publish an e-book with www.diffussion.org.uk and was interviewed in the New Statesman’s arts and culture feature The Way I See It.
I’m also in two bands – a faux rock band called One Trick Pony and an oldey-timey American Jug Band which doesn’t really have a name and for which I play guitarry things and the washboard.
alex@cartoondesalvo.com
www.alexmurdoch.co.uk
