Tommy Perman & 59 Productions
Our friend Tommy Perman has recently collaborated with 59 Productions on their commission for Sydney Opera House's VIVID festival. Tommy explains:
"A couple of months ago I received an email with the subject: 'Illustrator Task (From Hell?)' from my old friend Leo (co-founder of 59 Productions). The task was to produce a technical drawing detailing all of the tiles of the sails on the Sydney Opera House. 59 would use this drawing as part of their pre-production process for an impressive commission they'd won to light up the famous landmark with colourful visuals for the annual VIVID festival.
I replied to Leo saying "this doesn't look too arduous". I'm used to drawing intensely detailed images but I perhaps underestimated just how many tiles there are on the roof of the Sydney Opera House! But like the brave soul that I am, I plotted on, hunched over a hot graphics tablet for many hours longer than is medically advisable. To retain some sanity while drawing I decided to colour in each tile as I went – I told 59 to just disregard these colours though as all they needed was the position of the tiles. After days at the screen I finished the drawing and sent it off, happy that I'd played a small part in such a cool project.
I have a fairly busy life at the moment and I'd pretty much forgotten all about this job until the other Friday evening, my friend Mark (also of 59 Productions) posted a link to a Daily Mail slideshow of the opening night of the VIVID festival. I was flicking through the images thinking "these are stunning, it's ace that I was involved..." I'd almost reached the end of the slideshow and was wondering how great it'd be to see some of my own work on such a large canvas. And then I came across a photo of the Opera House illuminated with my brightly coloured drawing. I don't think I've felt that kind of jaw-dropping awe since my girlfriend told me she was pregnant!
Apparently 59 loved the colours in my drawing and decided it would become part of the final piece. I'm truly honoured to have my work shown in such a high profile way."
Tommy Perman is an artist, designer and musician based in Edinburgh. A founding member of the artist collective/experimental pop band FOUND, Tommy now concentrates on his own work as artist, illustrator and graphic designer.
Tommy and Rob St. John feature in the second issue of our Random Spectacular journal, with a contribution exploring their recent Water Of Life project.
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