COFFEE DRINKERS
About: “COFFEE DRINKERS” is a series of linocuts depicting scenes of everyday life in a random cafe.
The inspiration for the series came indirectly from paintings by world famous artists depicting Absinthe drinkers by a range of artists from Degas, Manet, Picasso and Toulouse Lautrec.
Absinthe wasn’t the most cheerful or kind of drinks and the pictures reflect that, However Absinthe was a drink of its time as critical then as coffee is now.
The difference between Coffee and Absinthe and café life was as clear as the Hogarth prints of Beer Street and Gin Alley. The idea of a positive Café life excited me.
With this series of linocuts “COFFEE DRINKERS” I am depicting a drink of today and its drinkers.
And my choice was a coffee because it is a universal beverage which retains an infinite uniqueness. Unlike a Cola, or a famous beer, no two coffees are ever the same. Coffee is an antidote not only to ennui, sleepiness but also to the mono-cultural norm that can make life mundane.
So instead of vacant, dizzy or blank impression on the face of the Absinthe drinker, I record the smiling, alert and engaged faces of people enjoying their cup of coffee.
Where ever I am, be it Paris, Monaco, London, Newport Beach or Tokyo I enjoy my morning coffees in a local cafe drinking and sketching. These linocuts are the result.
The COFFEE DRINKERS are the portraits of friends, family, fellow-artists and random people and their animals I meet around the world.