Supermundane

Supermundane is the pseudonym of Rob Lowe, a multi-disciplined creative who works as a graphic designer, artist, illustrator, typographer and art director in London, England.Known for hand produced work with strong typographic elements as well as his intensely detailed organic drawings he has been published and exhibited worldwide.

Life and Work

Supermundane was born in the Midlands of England in 1971. His interests in art and design started at and early age:"When I was a lot younger than I am now I used to be into calligraphy, which started my love affair with type, I was also into fantasy art and miniatures along with heavy metal music ( I was a bit on a loner as a child ) I have only just started to appreciate how these things have influenced my work up to this point. I tried for so long to move away from my past but now I can see the logos of the heavy metal bands I used to like in my type and the fantasy elements are there as well in the form of beasts I draw and make and doodled worlds." [http://www.shift.jp.org/en/archives/2004/12/supermundane.html] He studied Graphic Design at Cleveland College of Art in Middlesbrough, UK where he discovered the graphic artist Paul Rand who became an influence. His first job out of college was at a kettle factory in the Midlands where he discovered the name Supermundane: "'I discovered the name while working at a kettle factory. I used to read the dictionary to pass time and found the word "supermundane", meaning beyond earthly things, and thought that it summed up everything I do," [http://www.mad.co.uk/Main/News/Articlex/f2108a087e5a4f84a37b34b7c4c1166b/Profile-Supermundane.html] He has been published and exhibited worldwide coming to the attention of a wider audience when he was brought in to re-vamp Sleazenation which was re-titled Sleaze and lasted only 4 issues. He then became art director of the free London style magazine Good For Nothing with Neil Boorman (founder of the fanzine Shoreditch Twat) as publisher and former Sleazenation editor Stuart Turnbull as the editor. His first major solo exhibition was at the Sea Gallery in London in 2004 a review of which is here: [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4159/is_20041205/ai_n12764132] He has worked for a wide range of clients including Penguin, New York Times, New York City, The Guardian, Juliette Lewis, MTV, Orange etc. He is currently creative director of children's quarterly magazine Anorak [http://www.anorak-magazine.co.uk/] a unisex children's magazine aimed at 5-10 year olds that uses well know illustrators such as Rob Ryan, Jeremyville, Steven Harrington, Jon Burgerman and Marcus Oakley among others.

Exhibitions and Publications

Exhibitions:

2008 - Try Hard Err - Joint exhibition with Kate Moross and Chris Knight, Concrete Hermit, London, England.

2007 - Take To The Woods - Group exhibition, Analogue Gallery - Edinburgh, Scotland.

2007 - Magic Happens - Joint exhibition with Marcus Walters, London, England.

2007 - Recoat - Recoat Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland.

2007 - Useless Wooden Toys - Vancover, Canada.

2007 - The Wurstminister Dog Show - Wurst Gallery, Portland, USA.

2007 - My 2007 - Colette, Paris, France.

2006 - Words + Pictures: Beyond the Valley Gallery, London, England (Solo).

2006 - Arkitip Exhibition - Denmak.

2006 - Analogue Gallery - Edinburgh, Scotland (Solo).

2004 - New Drawings - Sea Gallery, London, England (Solo).

2004 - Birds, Beasts and Beards - Filler Gallery, Northampton, England (Solo).

2003 - Dishwasher Safe, Wurst Gallery, Portland, USA.

Publications:

2008 - Logo A Go Go, Japan.

2007 - Illustrated Ape, UK.

2006 - Tres Logos - DGH, Germany.

2006 - Into Nature - DGH, Germany.

2005 - The Great Escape - DGH, Germany.

2005 - Glue Society Calander, Australia.

2004 - This is a magazine, Volume 2, Milan, Italy.

2003 - This is a magazine, Volume 1, Milan, Italy.

2003 - Arkitip, issue 17, Hollywood, USA.

2003 - Faesthetic Number 3, USA.

2003 - Our Magazine, Dog issue, Switzerland.

2003 - Illustrated Ape, UK .

2002 - Faesthetic Number 2, USA.

Press / Interviews:

2008 - Time Out. UK.

2008 - Sunday Times Style Magazine, UK.

2007 - Design Week - Feature, UK.

2007 - Metropolis, USA.

2007 - Grafik Magazine, UK.

2006 - Creative Review, UK.

2006 - Marmalade Magazinr, London. UK.

2005 - Mac Power. Toyko, Japan.

2005 - Grafik Magazine. London, UK.

2005 - Creative Review. London, UK.

2005 - Marmalade Magazine. London, UK.

2005 - Step (inside design). USA.

2005 - Shift Magazine (online). Japan.

2004 - Design Week. UK.

2004 - The Independent, Newspaper. UK.

2004 - The Times, Newspaper. UK

2004 - Esquire Magazine. UK.

2004 - Blueprint Magazine. UK.

2004 - Blag Magazine (online). UK.

2004 - BBC Collective (online). UK.

2004 - Marmalade Magazine. London, UK.

External Links

Supermundane website [http://www.supermundane.com/]

Video interview for the London Paper [http://www.thelondonpaper.com/cs/Satellite/london/videos/article/1157142351239?packedargs=suffix%3DSubSectionArticle]

Anorak Magazine site [http://www.anorak-magazine.co.uk/]

Design Week Profile [http://www.supermundane.com/pages/Design_Week.html]