Romancing The Ride is a cycling inspired letterpress exhibition by Russell Frost of Hooksmith Press based in Leytonstone, East London.
Launch Party
Monday 18th March from 6pm
Don't forget Happy Hour is 5 - 7pm every Monday to Friday
More here: https://www.facebook.com/events/394590031091494/
Exhibition Dates
March to beginning May 2019
About the Artist
Hooksmith Press is a small Letterpress studio run by Russell Frost. He also runs a well-known, postage-stamp sized retail gallery/shop in Church Lane, Leytonstone. A self-taught printer; his work appeals to those with an eye for a genuine, hand-printed quality article. A keen observer with a wry sense of humour, his work mixes typography with nostalgia and witticism, often boldly printed with striking simplicity on vintage printing presses with original equipment he has collected from across the globe.
Mixing antique letterpress wood type (some over 180 years old) with advertising graphic blocks of similar age, his work is honest and described by some as masculine. A collector all of his life, 45-year Frost proudly displays a large weather beaten 1930’s map of New Zealand in his home-come-studio in Leytonstone. He won this for a good school assignment at the tender age of 8. With only one other child in his year, he’s quick to point out that maybe it wasn’t necessarily the greatest academic achievement, but marked the beginnings of his collecting, in his then rural and mountainous home of St Arnaud, Nelson Lakes National Park.
After a stint as a professional fly-fishing guide and landscape architect in NZ, he followed his now wife to London where he has been printing and residing with their daughter for nearing on 11 years. He was recently named a Cultural-Star by the borough of Waltham Forest as part of their successful bid for Borough of Culture 2019.
Russell has always been a bike enthusiast, tearing around the national park trails of his youth and later a stint mountain biking in the late 80’s (Back when Cannondales had a larger front wheel than the rear). His current ride is a custom Stayer Chigzag for nipping about in Epping Forest, he also cherishes his folding 1940’s BSA Airborne. His grandfather Edward, was a member of the Fulham Wheelers in the 1920’s and the Vegetarian Cycling and Athletic
Club.
Artist Biography
Russell B. Frost, Letterpress Artist & Designer
b. 1973 (Canada) raised in the South Island of New Zealand
Education, Bachelor of Landscape Architecture, Lincoln University, NZ,1995
Links
Website: www.hooksmith.com
Instagram: @Hooksmith
Twitter: @HooksmithPress
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HooksmithPress
Hooksmith Press _Film by J.Panter https://vimeo.com/210319376
