Artist of the day: Artist of the Day, March 9, 2021: Jake Tilson, an English artist, graphic designer, writer and publisher (#1226)

Tuesday, March 9, 2021

Artist of the Day, March 9, 2021: Jake Tilson, an English artist, graphic designer, writer and publisher (#1226)

Jake Tilson (1958) is an English artist, graphic designer, writer and publisher
His work has been exhibited around the world and is held in many museums and public collections including the Tate Gallery, Museum of Modern Art and Centres Georges Pompidou.

He studied painting at Chelsea College of Art and the Royal College of Art where he also taught in Illustration and Communication Design (1987-99).

Tilson founded the influential arts magazine, Atlas (1984) and was an early web pioneer with his award-winning website TheCooker (1994), featured in World Art Series - New Media in Late 20th Century Art, Thames & Hudson.

His first cookbook, which he also designed, A Tale of 12 Kitchens (2006), won the Gourmand World Cookbook Award and was shortlisted for both the Andre Simon Award and the Glenfiddich Award and featured in The New York Times Cookbooks for Christmas, Independent Books of the Year, Irish Times Cookbooks of the Year, and Guardian Book of the Week. His second cookbook, In At The Deep End (2011) was published in the UK, USA, Germany and Spain, it was nominated for The Guild of Food Writers award. Jake is a trustee of the Oxford Symposium on Food & Cookery, a contributor to magazines such as Blueprint, Saveur and Creative Review and has reported on sustainable ﬁshing for BBC Radio 4’s Food Programme.

In 2009 he collaborated with the Japanese artist Kyoichi Tsuzuki for A Net of Eels, an exhibition at The Wapping Project commissioned by the Film and Video Umbrella. A retrospective of his work, Investigations in Cities 1977-1997, was held at the Museo International de Electrografia, Cuenca, in 1997. His audio works have been exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery, Rena Branston in San Francisco, Roda Sten in Goteborg, the Photographers Gallery in London and at the Venice Architecture Biennale.

His eclectic eye and collaborative approach extends into his graphic work for individuals and companies such as Haworth Tompkins, Battersea Arts Centre, National Theatre, Young Vic, Everyman Theatre - for whom he designs books, signage, typefaces, exhibitions, websites and print. He has made shoe designs for Paul Smith and a clothing range for Jeff Banks at Warehouse. In 2012 he was commissioned to make a series of large-scale artworks for Haworth Tompkins as part of their contribution to the Venice Biennale.

He is obsessed with typography, as can be seen is his book 3 Found Fonts (Atlas, 2003), numerous typefaces designed for books and projects including Merseyside Neon used on the façade of the Everyman Theatre, (winning the RIBA Stirling Prize).

He is married to the Scottish ceramic artist Jennifer Lee, they live with their daughter Hannah in Peckham, London.

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