LONDON.- Patrick Vale is an artist who’s intricate portraits of cities have recently captured public imagination. His time lapse film “Empire State of Pen” captured five days of intensive drawing and brought critical acclaim across the design and architectural worlds, it clocked up 700,000 plays in a few weeks. The Huffington Post described the film as “jawdropping” and Rob Alderson from “It’s Nice That” commented that “the ridiculous level of skill involved is staggering”.

Patrick’s large and highly detailed freehand drawings render the history and drama of our cities, they invite us to peer into the fabric of the place. He delights in showing us the intricate structures of fire escapes and rooftops as much as he does the more famous landmarks, and it is this that really allow the viewer to look and explore for themselves. This exploration is encouraged by Patricks line work, A.J Aternal from Architizer describes it as “ wilfully scraggly, imperfect without being whimsical or cute” . He relentlessly builds up layer upon layer of line and ink that seems to mirror the time that has passed as these cities have grown and evolved. Often picking a very high vantage point, Patrick creates work that show vast swathes of the city that invites us to investigate and engage with.

“City lines” is his first solo exhibition at the Coningsby Gallery and shows drawings made from trips to New York, San-Francisco, Los-Angeles & his City of residence, London, made over the last 3 years.

Here is a recent interview with the artist:

Describe your artworks in three words.
Detailed, complex and energetic

When you watch a view of a big city, what do you see?
I see the story of the City. You see and hear the people of today living and thriving, making the city their own, yet everywhere you look (especially in older cities) there are signs from the past.

Tell me about the technical aspects of your work. Do you draw from photographs? What are the first elements you focus on? How long does it take you to finish every work?
Once i have decided on the view, i will spend some time on location, making some very quick sketches either on paper or on a tablet. These spontaneous marks are important as i like to try and bring them back into the larger work later. I will then take some photos for reference, but i will use my sketches as a reference for things like light. When im back in the studio, i like to draw in the same way as if i was on location, so i draw quickly using an energetic loose line, i'm not that fussed about everything looking perfect, but i do keep an eye on the scale of things and keep checking back to the first buildings I plotted to see if they look in proportion. I tend to put all the line down first with a very fine line, and then add thicker lines to help bring out the foreground or particular buildings i want to highlight. If i am colouring the piece, then layer upon layer of ink will be added and then the line being re-drawn over the top. Its a painstaking process. Some of the larger pieces could take me over a month to finish, but i am always working on other briefs so could be juggling 4 other jobs at the same time.

So far, which cities have you depicted in your illustrations? Do you have plans to include more?
I have drawn London many times, as well as New York and San Francisco. I am desperate to draw Paris, Barcelona, Rome, Tokyo, Dubai, Rio...the list is endless really all cities fascinate me. I would also love to do a USA tour, drawing all of the big cities.

The first solo exhibition of your works is about to open. Tell me more about the artworks included in the show.
The work in the show will be huge drawings and paintings of cities made in the last 3 years, from trips to New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and my hometown, London.

Choose one of them (one you particularly like) and tell me more about it.
It would be the newest piece, and that is the view to Coit tower from Filbert St. San Francisco. It was my first trip to San Francisco and i fell in love with the place. The city is built on very steep hills that mean you get stunning vistas of the city and the ocean. What i like most about this piece is the dramatic contrast between the big foreground and the view that sweeps to Coit tower and the bay. It was a very sunny day, which also meant for a lovely contrast between light and dark which i think i captured in this piece. The telephone wires were brilliant to draw as well, and help to frame the view and draw the eye in.