Trying Not To Speak by Scott Cottrell

Trying Not To Speak by Scott Cottrell

Within ‘Trying Not To Speak’ by Scott Cottrell is an expressive tour through the designers creative process, working methods and personal contemplations.

Scott Cottrell is a regular contributor to publications including 46pgs.

Scott Cottrell is an artist and designer living and working in the United States. He has worked primarily in magazine and music design, and is continually trying to create work that resonates with the viewer.

Imperfection is an all-important thread running through all of his work. Castoffs, beautiful accidents and anomalies are all in use. Type is printed out, distressed and picked apart and then reassembled. Images are printed out and ran through fax machines and copiers and recombined with the original image to create something new, and yet somehow still the same (in a sense). Layers and layers are built up and manipulated. Leftovers and left-behinds. A desire to imitate life through art. Everything changes and yet somehow still remains.

‘I grew up in the 80s, and I think the romanticism of that era is ingrained in me to this day, so that sensibility usually finds its way into my work. Emotion is also an important aspect of my work. I want there to be an emotional connection to the work.’

Introduction to Tying Not To Speak by Scott Clum

‘I have been looking at and admiring Scott’s work for a long time now. I never felt I  was just looking at one singular piece. I have always had the feeling that I was looking at a multitude of decisions and life pathways that have ended up contributing to design direction in his work.

There are no mistakes, these are life journeys Scott has traveled through to get to his decision making process. When you make a decision to carry artistic passions forward you’re bringing your life with you. You can’t object. None of this is bad, actually the opposite. This is a refining process, a process that Scott is using to pull more out of a design and image and make it his collective own.’

Scott Clum website

ISBN 978-1-915528-12-4