Within your illustrations, you choose a wide range of magazines. The individuals on the covers are quite diverse. What qualities were you looking for when choosing magazine covers to re-interpret?
The selection process is best described as magazine lust. I’m usually drawn to something that stands out on the newsstand: an unusual image, colors, typography, format, etc., something that sparks a thought or memory in me…something I have a connection to. I know enough about graphic design to get a bit geeky about the selection, too. After a while you get to recognize the different styles of the art directors and designers, the tones of voice used by the editors. In one way Covers has always been homage to those people.

What was your relationship like with magazines before the project? Has your interest in magazines and covers changed?
I work as an art director and magazines are a useful tool of the trade, making tear sheets, mood boards, and so on. I built up a sizable collection as a by-product of my job. Magazines have the potential to capture an exact moment in time. For example, I have old issues of The Face that mark out a clear memory of where I was and what the world was like. It’s a mix of nostalgia and historical document. That’s very fertile ground for the imagination. I must also say that I’m playing with magazines because they represent a perfected kind of mass consumerism. They are beautiful but so disposable. I’m taking a mass produced object and making it a one-off art piece. That transformation appeals to me.