Walking with Mike Abrahams, artist
The artist who's fascinated by the power of words to tell it like it is, shares how words inform his work
“As a designer you get affirmation from the client (and their subsequent success). As an artist it has to come from within.”
How do I describe Mike Abrahams? In his own words: he’s an “artist, athlete and occasional designer”. In my eyes, he’s one of those rare creatives who takes their inspiration from words, type, text and language. Much of his work, either as an artist or a designer, has words at its heart.
Mike’s a member of Riverside Artists Group and his work has been shown in a number of exhibitions, including the RA’s Summer show. His artists books are in the collections of Tate, V&A and other international institutions, and his collaborative installations with artist Francesca Giuliano can be found in Dalston Square, Hackney and Kensington Central Library, London. He’s also won a number of awards – which he tends not to mention!
I met him when he was wearing his designer hat, when I worked with him on a project he created to transform a hoarding around a London construction site into a canvas for word art. From Home to Home was a collaborative poem, written by 12 writers from Dark Angels, with each line of the poem displayed on the hoarding for one month, so that the entire piece was revealed over a year. Not only did Mike come up with the idea, he personally installed each new line of poetry each month. I offered to help him install my line and that’s how we got to know each other better.
Mike’s currently creating a daily piece of word art and sharing it on Instagram, which naturally caught my eye (more on that later). So I got in touch with him to find out more about that and how words and walks influence his work.
Hi Mike, it’s great to catch up with you again. Can you tell our readers what you do, how you got there and the kinds of people you’ve worked with?
It was by accident that I started out in design over 40 years ago. It’s too long a story about why I didn’t go to art school but chose university instead – but I think it worked out just fine!
After 16 years working for international agencies I set up my own studio around this approach to life:
I call everything I do work.
Some I do for myself, and some for others.
Some by myself and some with others.
Some I get paid for and some I don’t.
And I'll only do work that I like.
The thing about design, unlike being an artist, one's work is anonymous. Sure I could name drop famous logos/brands that I've worked on or created, but it’s always a collaboration and that’s not how fame works.
I prefer to give credit to the people who create the right environment where great, enduring work happens.
“The thing about design, unlike being an artist, one's work is anonymous.”
You worked as a designer for 40 years but many of your projects are artistic in nature. How do you define yourself? Artist, designer or something of both?
Previously, if asked ‘what do you do’, I'd say ‘I’m a designer, athlete and artist’ but now I say ‘I’m an artist, athlete and occasionally I do a bit of design’. But the better question is always ‘what is it that you don’t do?’ – you'll get a far more interesting answer!
Ooh, in that case…. what is it that you don’t do?!
That’s not fair!!! But if I had to answer I’d say that what I don’t do is remember the bad stuff that’s happened to me.
That’s a great philosophy and an approach that I think many of us would benefit from taking. Who, or what, are your artistic influences?
Anything and everything, everywhere, anytime and anyone who uses text, type, words...
All that text, type and words stuff brings us nicely to your project Life is a four letter word. Can you tell me more about it and how you got the idea?
I was ’told’ in no uncertain terms in December 2022, that as an artist I needed to be on Instagram. So I had a month to get a project together as it seemed sensible to start posting on 1 January 2023.
I’d been making text-based work around chance and ‘Life is a four letter word’ happened as a fully formed idea…
I’d call myself a painter but most people would say I’m a conceptual artist as I do seem to think through what I want to make – and why and how – before I start. Although I’ll always allow the process to take over and if it takes me somewhere else, that’s totally fine.
So I made these rules:
Every day dream up a unique four-letter word that means something to me
Prepare a white 5”x7” canvas board and date stamp it
Paint the word in black
Photograph it on a page from the Financial Times Weekend chosen to add to my intention
Write a comment that always includes the word
Post on Instagram that day, no excuses
I’ve now painted over 600 consecutive daily paintings. The individual words are for sale, and I replace the sold pieces with a new painting bearing the original date, but stamped with ‘COPY’ and the new date I made it on the back. Then there are copies of the copies...
“Life is a four letter word happened as a fully formed idea…”
What artwork are you most proud of, and why?
I set up my design studio in 1996 and structured it so that one third of the time we did fee-earning work, one third was curating events and one third was pro-bono and our own research. We started making artist’s books which, by 2000, ended up in galleries and collections. Designing my business is obviously not an artwork but it was a really successful creative expression.
If I have to pick a single piece of art, it's a small assemblage called Cecilia that I made from two pieces of a wrecked Toyota engine that I found in Tobago in 2016. It was featured in the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition and that affirmation or validation of my work gave me the confidence to wind down the design work and wind up the art.
As a designer you get affirmation from the client (and their subsequent success). As an artist it has to come from within.
What role does walking play in your creative practice, if anything?
For most of my working life I have had dogs and walking them early in the morning was part of my daily routine.
But it was anything but routine to them.
Every day, and every walk, was like the greatest adventure. Every smell was new, every ditch was yet to be discovered. It was as if it was the first time they had explored the place so everything was in ‘technicolour’.
They taught me that I needed to approach every day as a brilliant opportunity… take nothing for granted and challenge everything, constantly.
That approach has been, and continues to be, fundamental to my creative practice.
“Every day, and every walk, was like the greatest adventure.”
How would you describe your walking style:
Happy Hiker
Reluctant Rambler
Sunday Stroller
Wild Weekender
Robotic Runner!
Is it headphones or head in the clouds for you?
Never headphones. I listen to my body. Running is the only time that my mind and body are in active and conscious conversation with each other.
Tell me about the most memorable walk you’ve ever done
It’s so hard to choose just one… I’ve walked to Everest basecamp, the Jebel Sahro in Morocco, the Wadi Rum in Jordan, the French Pyrenees… marathons in Paris, Athens, London, Lisbon, Singapore. But it was my daily 30+ minute walk, over probably 11 years taking my kids to primary school, that was just the best – constant conversations about life, the universe and everything.
If you could take a walk with anyone, real or fictional, alive or gone, who would it be? And why?
It would be during WWII and I’d be walking with my dad (when he was in his early 20s) after a year with the French Resistance, walking from Le Havre to Gibraltar on his way back to the UK. There’s a lot of things I’d like to know about the man he was then, that I never got round to asking.
“My daily 30+ minute walk, taking my kids to primary school, was the best – constant conversations about life, the universe and everything.”
One word round
One thing you always take with you on a walk?
OpennessOne word to describe how you feel about walking?
LiberationOne word to describe how you feel about art?
Essential
Please can you share a writing or creative prompt for our readers, based on a four-letter word?
MAKE
TIME
LOOK
FIND
DRAW
BEST
LIFE
EVER
Thanks for chatting with me, Mike. It’s been fascinating hearing about your approach to running your design studio, sharing how you found the confidence to wind down your design work and wind up the art, and how you approach your work. I particularly love your point about only doing work that you like – we should all embrace that, if we can!
To get your daily four-letter word fix, you can follow Mike on Instagram and get in touch with him if you’d like to buy one of his words.
Happy walking and writing until next time,
Sarah
More from The Writer’s Walk
If, like Mike, you want to experience a walk through your dog’s senses check out Walking with a dog.
