Edek Thompson West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
I am a Leeds based community artist, who paints the apocalypse one dog, pigeon or crow at a time.
Edek is a Leeds based community artist, who paints the apocalypse one dog, pigeon or crow at a time. Creating fun and disturbing images of a future ravaged by climate change, he imagines a world full of mutations and strange adaptations, where duck feet and waterproofs will aid survival in a new lifetime underwater. Edek’s artwork is helping to create a future mythology, a way to remember and document the things around us for when they are no longer there.
Sustainability and accessibility are key factors in Edek’s work and inform his material choices. He uses found and donated materials, household emulsions rescued from landfill, boards from building sites and vinyl from sign shop bins, along with the stuff people usually have lying around at home like pens, pencils and crayons. Using these materials and working from reference photos that he has taken himself, Edek hopes his creations can help to spread a little joy and optimism at the end of the world.
Edek is the founder and facilitator of Edek’s Doodle Chat. Relaxed social groups for all to doodle and chat. A safe space to talk and listen. An opportunity to be social and prioritise well-being. A place to connect and build community.
The sessions use art based activities to enable anyone to access the space and be part of a supportive group without pressure to speak. Engaging in creative activities together provides a shared experience, through which participants can connect and offer peer to peer support to each other.
Edek also regularly runs his Apocalypse Remix workshops in which participants create their own post-apocalyptic warrior guardian to protect them in a climate-ravaged future. The workshops are accessible to anyone at any stage of their artistic journey, and can be fully adapted to suit the needs of participants.
Artwork
Tiny Lovely Actions, Scrap paper, household emulsion, scrap vinyl, pen, pencil, oil pastel,, 2024, £5000
The Trees Are Gone But There's Always The Floor, Pen, pencil, pastel, reclaimed household emulsion, scrap vinyl on found board., 2023, £800
Preparations for a lifetime underwater, Pen, pencil, photograph, jigsaw pieces, reclaimed household emulsion, scrap vinyl on found card., 2022, £450
Preparations for a lifetime underwater, Pen, pencil, pastel, print, mint leaves, scrap vinyl and reclaimed household emulsion on found board, 2023
Catastrophic Tipping Points, 2023, £300
Drawings for Catastrophic Closeness, 2024
You Always Find The Crack In The Temple Walls - work in progress, 2024
The Losses Will Be Tremendous And Heartbreaking, 2021
Duck Strong, 2023
Join My War Team, 2023, £350
Projects and exhibitions
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Apocalypse Remix01/06/2024 — 30/06/2024 In June Basement Arts Project supported my first Apocalypse Remix exhibition. Apocalypse Remix started as a way of working through my own anxieties around climate change, but soon developed into a deeper exploration of my own mental health and wellbeing, an acknowledgement of isolation due to chronic pain, a meditation on grief and loss,... [Read more] |
Basement Arts Project, Leeds | Details |
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Teaching Children About The Colour Green11/11/2023 — 29/12/2023 Solo exhibition with a series of workshops. |
Redcar Palace, Redcar | Details |
Teaching Children About The Colour Green01/02/2023 — 19/02/2023 Solo Show |
Left Bank, Leeds | Details |