Ian Pollock’s work is dark, moody and often loaded with information which needs to be decoded, which is on first glance, hard to find before closer inspection. Often Pollock’s illustrations are painted in watercolours with inks and feature dark otherworldly qualities with twisted and surreal character forms, often unpleasant to the eye but intriguing nonetheless. His illustrations are perhaps best known for their inclusion in popular broadsheets where he depicts politicians with a satisfying disrespectful hand. Pollock also applied his take to Christian based miracles and parables, which resulted in a collection of strong, perhaps melancholic images sometimes dowsed in bloody tones which makes my eye connect them instantly to disfigured and butchered human anatomy. This, in reality isn’t always the case but because of their initial appearance, the images have a quality to them, which compels me to look closer.
“Born 1950, Cheshire; son of Gordon Pollock, traditional claypipe manufacturer. Educated at Thorn Grove Primary School, Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire. Eleven-plus failure and no-hoper. Woods Lane Secondary Modern School. Fifteen-plus transfer to Moseley Hall Grammar School, Cheadle, Cheshire; A-levels: maths, physics, chemistry – dropped maths for art (eventual grade E). Foundation at Manchester College of Art and Design. BA First Class Honours, Manchester Polytechnic, 70-73. Royal College of Art, Master of Arts Degree 73-76. Honorary Degree of Doctor of Arts, Wolverhampton University, conferred 3 September 2001. He has been freelancing for the last quarter century.
He lived in London for twenty years, now lives as a recluse in Macclesfield on the edge of the Peak District with his wife: painter Helen Clapcott, and two children. He works mostly for magazines and newspapers and appears regularly in the “quality press”. He was commissioned to design “Tales of Terror” — four postage stamps for the Royal Mail which were issued in May 1997. “Work still finds me up ‘ere…” says Pollock dribbling along the stem of an old clay pipe. “Work for anyone,” he says, “even the taxman.”
