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‘Can we go shopping in Preston on Saturday?’ - six words that make my heart sink. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a shopper, I buy design books that I can’t afford, curious trainers that no one appears to like, but me. And somehow - I’m still not sure how - I even managed to convince myself to buy a brand new imac, even though the bank balance was screaming NO. But, when it came to traipsing around several shoe shops in search of that ever so elusive ‘right colour purple’, I ran a mile, well, around the corner - to the Harris Museum.

I found sanctuary. I hadn’t been to the Harris for about six years, and always remembered it being a bit stuffy, and traditional, filled with lots of trinkets and pots that I’ve no doubt had lots of significance, but completely passed me by. That said, I’ve always had a real soft spot for the place. It was surprisingly busy for a Saturday, which was refreshing - I had visions of me pottering around looking all a bit sad. On offer were the aforementioned trinkets and pots (toilet water bottles? - anyone?) amongst ‘Dan Dare’ comics and Victorian busts. But what really got me going, was their exhibition of Gordon Cheung’s recent show, ‘Technophobia’.

I can’t tell you how pleased I was to see such a refreshing and contemporary show sitting in such a traditional building. Turning the corner, you’re greeted by a huge canvas, (3 meters high, by 5 meters wide), covered in the financial times stock listings and adorned with ink, acrylic gel and spray paint. On the surrounding walls, smaller pieces, using graph paper, marker pen and inks. Cheung’s work creates fantasy dreamscapes with an interesting blend of Chinese, and British iconography, a sort of ‘East meets West’, punctuated with rainbows, mountains and cowboys.

I have a real interest in digital illustration and image making, so was delighted to hear from Cheung (playing on a DVD around the corner) that his work starts on the Mac, and in Photoshop, where he creates a ‘blueprint’ of the finished work. The work itself however is all created by hand, from scratch - no digital prints - just a brush and a can of paint. The work I saw at the Harris had real shades of Stanley Donwood and Jasper Goodall - two of my favourite illustrators. A sort of psychedelic mix of spray paint rainbows, outlined figures and crumbling architecture, but I’ve no doubt you’ll make your own comparisons. 

‘Technophobia’ isn’t around for very long, so now is the time to check it out before it moves on. If you’re other half is anything like mine, you’ll get the chance to sally around the galleries, whilst earning big brownie points for telling them to ‘take their time’ - everyone’s a winner.

‘Technophobia’ is exhibiting at the Harris Museum, Preston,
from 27th September, to, 13th November.

For more information about the artist, visit his website.