Patrick Thomas Studio Visit

Despite feeling slightly worse for wear, I really enjoyed the visit to Patrick Thomas's studio in Barcelona. I felt i could connect with the ideas behind his work and the way he thought, and the idea of working abroad has really inspired me.

After doing a BA and then MA in graphic design, Thomas set up the Big Orange studio in 1987 with Lawrence Zeegan, but moved to Barcelona in 1991 partly because he was sick of the Tory government. Although he barely spoke a word of Spanish, he began working freelance from his hotel room. By 97 he was able to buy La Vista studio, a rooftop apartment near the centre of Barcelona, where he currently lives and works.

He cites his main influences as being Peter Blake, Peter Saville, and the punk movement. This simple, direct style and pop art influence is evident in alot of his work. He is also inspired by William Hogarth, and Russian constructivists such as Alexander Rodchenko. Most of the work he showed us were cover designs and editorials for the economy supplement of a Spanish newspaper. Interested in appropriation, Thomas enjoys the challenge of making an existing image his own. He collects a huge amount of images for inspiration. He often uses cliches in his work, and is very direct in the way he communicates. I loved his piece about the differences between France and Germany - the image consisted of a corkscrew and bottle opener side by side. He works very quickly, often getting a brief in the evening and handing it in the next morning. Recently he had an exhibition in London, where his work was presented in a black and white newspaper format, commenting that a good idea should work in black and white.

He has produced a large number of promotional postcards, some examples are shown above. The studio was filled with huge screen prints of his designs, my favourite being the iconic image of Che Guevara, his face made up of corporate logos and symbols of capitalism. I like the irony behind this idea, but also the point it makes about how the image of this socialist revolutionary hero has, since his death, become so famous that it is almost as much a corporate logo as any of the others.