Puns and Needles
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Malcolm Poynter’s pop art style employs the use of comics, cowboys, pin-ups, toys and cheap advertising to freshen up and elevate needlework for a more contemporary art market. His dual passion for Van Gogh artworks and Eagle magazine could attribute to his present style, which combines nude women and comic books.
He observes things with a humorous and ironic eye and seeks to re-address cheap and mass produced iconic imagery into a context where it doesn’t usually belong.
He now produces paintings, drawings, 3-Dimensional constructions and a few years ago began to rediscover embroidery, a medium he feels deserves more consideration as a fine art rather than as a craft:
“Cushions are kids stuff. My embroideries are going where no embroideries have gone before…They are rough and tough and full of spunk!” Malcolm Poynter.
Biography
Born 1947, studied art at Winchester School of Art, 1965-70 and then St Martins School of At 1967-70 where he was a contemporary of Gilbert and George, Richard Long, Bill Woodrow and John Goto.
In the 1970’s he created series of stuffed, padded paintings which made an early appearance in VOGUE, and produced custom made, hand embroidered clothes for individual clients.
Later he became a stalwart of the British underground Comic Scene, responsible for such unforgettable characters as Eddie Trunker and Rip Toph, before moving into mainstream illustration, working for Radio Times, Time Out, Pan books, Image magazine, Science Fiction Monthly, as well as various advertising campaigns including Levi jeans and Octopus Books. He then worked as an Art Director for Mecanic, a high street fashion manufacturer and t-shirt printer and finally spent many years as a TV graphic designer for ITN, Thames and Meridian before returning to picture making in 2000.