Meet Ed Fairburn | Artist and Illustrator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ed Fairburn and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ed, what do you attribute your success to?
The most important factor behind the success of my practice as an artist is the uniqueness of what I create, and the way in which my work portrays both people and place. Virtually all of my work stems from my love of collecting original maps and other paper ephemera – I really enjoy the textures, patterns, history and even smells of aged paper. Maps are particularly interesting because they often tell the story of a specific place. I think my clients appreciate being able to introduce that quality to their collection, campaign or project – and for me, I certainly like exploring the concept of celebrating both people and place, together as one. Most viewers, when looking at my work, will either see a portrait first, or a map – which one usually depends on the distance from which my work is seen. With each portrait I create, I ‘hijack’ the language of a chosen map – I study the information, whether that’s a road network or lines of elevation – and I interject my own markings, making gradual changes to how the map looks – enough to form a portrait. The end result is thought provoking and visually striking, qualities which are (in my opinion) essential to any creative business. As for uniqueness – the art world is fiercely competitive – being able to produce work which differs so much from other artists’ work is a huge advantage. Of course, every artist’s work is unique, and generally speaking, unique is binary – it either is, or it isn’t – but there is such a thing as “X’s work is similar to the work of Y”, just as there is “I’ve never seen anything like this before”.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My work gathered a lot of momentum in a short amount of time, back in 2012 – enough momentum for me to leave my cafe job (which I genuinely loved) – with lots of early sales and commission enquiries, I had a chance, and I took it. I quickly learned the ins and outs of running a business, although I was surprised and relieved to realise that running a business can be very creative – it’s not all numbers. I made (and still make) mistakes but I always evaluate, adjust, and adapt. I make a point to enjoy every success, big or small, and I try not to get hung up on any failures. Most of all, crucially – I do my absolute best to make sure the art itself comes first. “If in doubt, draw more/paint more” is something I keep at the front of my consciousness. It can be painfully easy to spend a whole day or more working on the administrative or logistical side of things, although Viola, my partner in life and business handles a lot of the technical stuff – our setup allows me to keep the fire going and ensure I have time to create, which of course is the cornerstone of the business.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I live in rural Dorset, England, which isn’t exactly the most active or exciting part of the world – the town I live in is an old market town, which generally has one of everything – one supermarket, one greengrocer, one butcher, one Chinese takeaway, one Indian restaurant etc. I moved here to be close to family although ironically those family members have now moved away to live elsewhere. I’m not painting the best picture of where I live – but in all honesty, I love living here. It’s definitely inconvenient at times but with the surrounding green fields and rolling hills, it’s also the sort of place a city dweller might go on vacation. I won’t be living here forever, but I’ve already moved a lot in my life (I had moved around 15 times by the time I turned 18), so relocating frequently is something I’m used to.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I dedicate my shoutout to Chris Glynn (www.chrisglynn.net), who was course leader during my time at Cardiff Met 2008-2012. I was awarded an honours degree in illustration under Chris’ tuition – it was a crucial period in the development of my practice, and the last formal education I received before establishing myself in the ‘real world’. Chris’ approach was very open – he often encouraged us to look a little deeper, asking questions about what drawing really is, and what sort of place it has in the world. During my time at uni I was beginning to experiment with the idea of context, creating art to exist within unusual situations or surfaces – having Chris as a course leader certainly encouraged me to be able to pursue less conventional ways of creating art.

Website: www.edfairburn.com

Instagram: /edfairburn

Facebook: /edfairburnartist