“The eye numbers were mine, the idea of having maps on the endpapers came out of a conversation with SF about the pleasure of maps in books and having a sense of the territory you are about to explore. SF had contributed Polaroids to a book of hidden Thames tributaries that he sent me, so that information went into the second map.” The initial plan was that the maps would be accurate and informative, but through experimentation, Dave and SF discovered a more impressionist approach suited the book better. One of the book’s many triumphs is its cover, it is a stunning wraparound of a tiger with an eye filled with stars and galaxies. There’s a wonderfully textured quality to the illustration and the image of the industrial city of London which appears in one of the stripes. Dave explains: “After reading the final draft, I instantly got an image in mind for the cover, the two worlds represented by the tiger’s stripes with elements travelling from one realm to the other, the sense of staring into the eye and seeing the universe, infinite possibility, and the idea of holding the book up in front of your face to read, and becoming the Tyger to whoever is opposite you on the bus.”


The textures on the image are a mix of paint, fur and fractals and Dave


Spring-Summer 2023


was keen to carry over the typeface from previous SF books but bring some modernity and hints of other cultures to it. He says: “I doodled all of this while I was waiting to hear my wife’s orchestra play in a concert in Cranbrook. It was the only rough I did and went straight to finish. I took a chance they’d like it as I thought it was strong.”


Loaded with meaning The way the Tyger is depicted through the book varies. It generally relies upon soft, curved lines but it also appears on a poster and is shown then to be far more vicious and angular. Does Dave feel our use of art and its potential ties to propaganda come with a responsibility? “I think so. I had a great drawing teacher called George Glenny, who also taught semiotics, the notion that everything is loaded with signs and signifiers of meaning, and that it’s important to be able to decode them as a reader, and to be aware of them and wield some control over them as a creator. I’ve taken those ideas into everything I’ve done. I’m generally completely anti-censorship, but to balance that in a functioning society, I think there’s an equal weight of personal responsibility needed.”


On the topic of functioning societies, the book features an underground library which Dave has set amid labyrinthine,


brick-lined tunnels. Are libraries themselves an important part of a functioning society and what role have they played for Dave?


“The school and art school libraries both provided me with the fiction and reference material that fuelled my early work. I’ve always been a collector, so putting my own library together at home has been a big part of my life. It’s easy to believe that the internet replaces everything, but so much is missing from the online experience. Each time a new digital Rubicon is crossed we are told that it expands choice, but only, it appears, if you engage with it in exactly the way they want. Books remain perfect technology, and in libraries, perfectly democratic.” This brings us on to discussing the role of creativity, a key theme in Tyger. Dave explains his views, saying: “I think all creativity is crucial for the developing mind, especially doing it, playing music, dancing, drawing, writing, thinking creatively. So, making work that I hope ‘inspires and delights,’ to quote Milton Glaser, is a wonderful thing to do.” This feels an apt summation of a key theme both in Tyger and in the approach Dave takes to his work. “I love the different challenges and trying new things. And I like not having a style and tailoring the imagery to best express each different project.” PEN&INC.


PEN&INC. 15


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60