"?Une image is worth a thousand mots?" is the adage of the English artist James Cook. A maxim that has never been used so aptly as to present his work. James Cook uses neither computer nor DTP software. In fact, he has even chosen to free himself completely from all modern technology in his artistic expression. Trained as an architect, he produces portraits and architectural drawings using a simple typewriter. Some of his works contain up to 100?000 characters.
On his website, he explains that he has been creating typewritten portraits for more than 6 years and has accumulated about 100 drawings during this period. His first exhibition at the Thaxted Guildhall in Essex in the summer of 2020 showcased his collection of 35 typewriters and some of his works from the collection.
He draws his inspiration from the American artist Paul Smith (1921-2007). Afflicted with cerebral palsy since birth, he had learned to use the typewriter as a means of expression. Throughout his life, he produced meticulously detailed drawings composed of thousands of letters, numbers and punctuation marks.
James Cook makes his drawings on small formats the size of a postcard, as well as on A4 sheets, or on larger formats divided into several parts assembled at the end. A work takes him between a week and a month to complete.
" ?Chaque drawing is assembled from a variety of characters, letters and punctuation marks using the forty-four keys of a typical typewriter. The information is overlaid and the keys are typed at varying pressures to obtain a tone shading on ton?" he explains.
