Books have always been places to me. Ever since I first picked one up and climbed between its covers, they have seemed autonomous worlds in which my imagination could run wild. As such, they have also been kinetic containers of ideas with revelations over every page, maps to unfurl and pictures to pour over. Over the years I’ve had a lot of fun playing with these two concepts; the book as a world in its own right and the book as an artifact.
This exhibition has examples that range from die-cuts and fold-out maps, to pop-ups, a fake diary and a diorama reading kit. More recent works create unique objects, either by drawing directly into second-hand books or making them into little book sculptures. Some illustrations have even broken completely free from their novels and atlases. Hopefully they still conjure up their absent stories.
Whatever is going on, these models and drawings are essentially about my on-going fascination with books and the imagined worlds they contain. Many of them also celebrate where I live on the edge of our wild Otago Coast and delve into the literature of the sea. Winds howl through their pages, storms rage against their bindings, tiny ships are flung across their pages and strange creatures are cast up onto their margins.
I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I have making them.
David Elliot
David Elliot is an award-winning illustrator and writer for children. He has illustrated over 50 books for authors around the world, and produced ten picture-books of his own, notably earning national and international accolades along the way.
David has lived in Port Chalmers for more than 30 years and much of his work has been inspired by the surrounding coast, its history, wildlife, and ever-changing weather. And now - as is evident in the current exhibition - David has united these enduring passions for books and home with his early love of painting and sculpture.