{"id":920577,"date":"2026-10-08T11:36:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T11:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/920577\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T11:36:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T11:36:08","slug":"immersive-layered-and-abstract-william-goldsmiths-comics-explore-memory-and-the-strange-patterns-that-shape-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/920577\/","title":{"rendered":"Immersive, layered and abstract, William Goldsmith\u2019s comics explore memory and \u201cthe strange patterns that shape it\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cMemory is a big force in my work,\u201d London-based writer and illustrator William Goldsmith<\/a> tells It\u2019s Nice That. \u201cVisually, I like cataloguing memories from a particular time, but I also play with repetition, overlay and abstraction to convey how slippery memory can be.\u201d That\u2019s why the illustrators work so often takes the form of something sequential: like comics, zines and books. His recent publication The Suitcase is a comic that spills out a beautifully illustrated narrative across its pages \u2013\u00a0a story springs off from a childhood memory of a boy climbing into a suitcase carousel and merges memories from three cities: Athens, Glasgow and Moscow. Riso-printed with four colour layers in a limited edition of 100 at the London Centre for Book Arts<\/a>, the book explores in layered, patterned windows that overspill with colour a narrative about \u2018the beguiling pull of memory, and the strange patterns that shape it.\u2019<\/p>\n

Inside this theme of memory sits William\u2019s fascination with how a sense of place shapes a story. Whether its entirely imaginary spaces \u2013\u00a0like his wacky collaged mini sets for The World of Interiors magazine<\/a> or real places and scenarios drawn from observation<\/a>, the illustrator\u2019s scenes always carry a playful sense of humour or hint at the surreal. Much of the inspiration for the atmosphere of William\u2019s drawings comes from escaping the everyday and placing himself somewhere new entirely: \u201cIf I travel, I like to be in a new place for a long period,\u201d he says, like his residency at the \u0160a\u0161ek Foundation this summer in Czechia where he started to develop a new book, drawing influence from the town of T\u00e1bor\u2019s colours, textures and tiny winding streets.<\/p>\n

As for the shape of the characters in his work, even though his style is not \u201cphotorealistic\u201d, he says, his figures always \u201cneed to feel like real people I have encountered,\u201d their dialogue often inspired by the \u201crhythms and dynamics\u201d of daily ramblings. \u201cPerhaps this is my biggest creative influence,\u201d the illustrator ends, \u201cjust remembering the stories people tell me.\u201d As a writer as well as an illustrator, William\u2019s practice is pretty much the perfect recipe for such compelling storytelling.<\/p>\n