Collaborative Poetry Book ‘360 Degrees’ Launches
‘360 Degrees’ is a collaboration between artist and poet Paul Wood, Art Director Graham Wood (Tomato) and produced and published by Tracy Stokes at Like Minded Individuals.
Paul Wood was born in East London, leaving school in 1981 he went on to qualify in Fine Art and Design. He has utilised his artistic writing and creative skills throughout his life to further his art career with exhibitions in London. He has successfully exhibited his work in Europe and America and his artwork is owned by clients in Europe and Worldwide. Paul now focuses on his writing and takes his influences from everyday things, stories and life experiences, he has written fun and amusing poems and rhyming verse which encapsulate the moment and allows the reader to see everyday items and life situations such as washing machines, supermarkets and such like, in a totally different and quite often humorous way.
Paul Wood: “I was introduced to Graham Wood’s work when I read his latest book “Memory is the Medium”. I noticed the correlation between the geometric abstract designs that appeared in my artworks and Graham’s use of circles in his work within the forms of a one sided shape. I loved that thought process. I felt a parallel creative appreciation with this, as my artwork and the reasons why this poetry book is called 360 Degrees is due to the fact circles have many values; the circle of life, the meaning of life, where there’s a start there’s an end, circles of trust, friends, life in general. Within this realisation that not only my artwork but also my writing had an equilibrium and balance, it became quite clear that both Graham’s designs and play with words, would result in a perfect match. My writing revolves around life experiences…”
Graham Wood is the founder of the acclaimed, multi award-winning agency Tomato, previously Executive Creative Director at JWT NYC, ECD at The Gild, among other roles and projects. Graham is an artist, designer and director, from print & TV, to online, events, performance, generative and reactive installation, experiential, product design, film and motion graphics. The circular theme for the artwork happened organicaly , almost by accident, and Graham began to make very simple, almost children's book imagery for Paul's poems, and realised once he’d created 6 or 7 images that they were all constructed from circles, it was at that stage that Graham pursued it as a theme . Each image relates to each poem in either literal or abstract ways.
Graham Wood: “It's as much a collaboration when you leave each other alone as it is when you work sitting next to each other constantly. Just allowing someone to do their own thing, with freedom, is an inspiration and liberating, and that's how Paul & I worked together to a great extent.”
Tracy Stokes adds book publication to her huge array of production achievements. She is more typically known from her time as Joint Head of TV at TBWA and Head of TV at Fallon and more recently her own company Like Minded Individuals which handles productions direct to clients. Tracy has been responsible for a vast number of award winning commercials and music videos.
Tracy Stokes: “Publishing a book is something I’ve always wanted to do. I did a degree in Philosophy and Literature so books are something I’ve always had and always loved. It was great to have the opportunity to put together Paul Wood’s poetry book along with Graham Wood’s design. To me, there just seemed to be a natural pairing in their work, a mutual empathy. I saw that the tone and feel belonged in the same world and it was a joy to work with them both in being able to create this. It’s been a different process for me from my usual productions and one which I’ve very much enjoyed I must say.
“And I’m looking forward to doing the next one…"
