Daniel Eatock

Bios

Bio Collection

Bio. by Rob Ryan, master at The Art Workers’ Guild

Daniel Eatock Say Yes to Fun and Function, Say No to Seductive Imagery and Colour! Dan runs 200 miles a month / tells truths / makes work everyday / embraces chance / moves towards difficult things. He is relentless / observative / angry / calm / on or off / awake or asleep.

Bio. by Hato Press

Daniel Eatock is a London-based artist whose rigorous, idea-led practice is rooted in an ongoing exploration of the world around him. He approaches the everyday with wit and wonder, answering questions he asks himself through drawing, painting, sculpture, installation and many other media. Eatock studied Graphic Design at the RCA, and collaboration, a problem-solving approach and a willing embrace of contradictions and grey areas permeates his work. He was born in Bolton, and lives and works in London.

Bio. by Sarah Owens, head of MA Design & Communication, Zurich University of the Arts, Switzerland

How best to describe Daniel Eatock’s work? Possibly by listing some of the numerous attributes mentioned in the biographies on his website. Thus, his projects are
«inventive,
glib,
compulsive,
questioning,
collaborative,
whimsical,
explorative,
conceptual,
participatory,
paradox,
subversive,
seeking,
open,
careful,
attune to moments and coincidence,
reductive,
humorous,
thought-provoking,
challenging,
enthusiastic,
unconventional,
associative,
astute,
eccentric,
intense,
systematic.»
(In German: einfallsreich, wortgewandt, zwanghaft, fragend, kollaborativ, seltsam, explorativ, konzeptionell, partizipativ, paradox, subversiv, suchend, offen, vorsichtig, interessiert an Momenten und Zufällen, reduktiv, humorvoll, nachdenklich stimmend, herausfordernd, enthusiastisch, unkonventionell, assoziativ, scharfsinnig, exzentrisch, intensiv, systematisch.)

Bio. by Véronique Vienne

On Daniel Eatock’s website there are more than 20 distinctive versions of his biography. They are smart, witty, intriguing, with each presenting a different facet of his work. Rather than try to plagiarize them all in an attempt to give readers the full story, I decided to reproduce here the shortest one, written by Tim Milne, for the British website Container:

Daniel Eatock is renowned for his exploration of the wit and conceptual irony that exist in everyday objects and situations. He devises systems, templates and opportunities for collaboration inviting contributors to shape the outcome and participate in the creation of his work. He embraces contradictions and dilemmas; seeking out alignments, paradoxes, chance circumstance, loops, impossibilities and oxymorons. He likes to create the feeling of falling backwards. Daniel trained at The Royal College of Art as a graphic designer, but is now an established artist exhibiting around the world with a devoted following.

Bio. by Matt Edgar Course Leader Graphic Design, Sheffield Hallam University

1975 D.E. is born in Bolton, England.

Whilst on holiday with secondary school friend Daniel Foster D.E. draws ‘sky, sea, sand’ and realizes that ideas could be more powerful than aesthetics.

1993 Reads Lippard’s ‘Six Years: The Dematerialization of the Art Object’. The book has a profound impact on D.E.

1993-1996 Studies communication design at Ravensbourne under Rupert Basset, Collin Maughan and Geoff White, a fully committed student, D.E. arrives early for lectures and sits at the front in opposition to the cliché of the slacker student.

1998 Shortly before graduating from the Royal College of Art, D.E. follows the advice of one of his tutors, Rick Poynor, and travels to Minneapolis, Minnesota to complete an internship at the Walker Art Center.

1998 At the Walker Art Center D.E. works alongside design director Andrew Blauvelt and Sam Solhaug. D.E. and Solhaug conceive the ‘10.2 Multi Ply Coffee Table’ and establish the collaborative initiative ‘Foundation 33’.

1998 Returning to the UK D.E. teaches graphic design at Brighton University and sets up a studio space in Bethnal Green, London.

2000 ‘Foundation 33’ build the ’10.2 Multi Ply Coffee Table’ in Pentagram London’s carpentry workshop for the Milan Furniture Fair. Lyn Winter offers to promote the table and also introduces D.E. to friend Katie Hayes. Hayes works for Channel 4 in the UK and invites D.E. to pitch for the design of a new series in production; Big Brother. D.E. wins the pitch. Daniel Forster and Tim Evans join Foundation 33, now transformed from collaborative project to fully functioning business.

2004 Foundation 33 merges with creative agency Boymeetsgirl but twelve months later the venture folds and D.E. becomes independent again.

2006 Co-founds www.indexhibit.org with Jeffry Vaska, a standards based, archetypal web application.

2008 D.E organizes and makes his monograph ‘Imprint’ (published by Princeton Architectural Press, see bio above). The A4 book is an archive of themes and motives through D.E’s work to date. On the spine is D.E’s thumbprint. Bound between pages 208 and 209 is a hand-drawn circle.

2008 D.E. works as occasional Art Director at Fearlessly Frank, a business consultancy working to deliver strategic, operational and functional change.

2014 Eatock Ltd continues to imagine, conceive, create, participate, make and disrupt.

Bio. by Matthew Hearn BALTIC 39

Born in Bolton and currently living in London, former graphic designer Daniel Eatock displays an ongoing interest in proposing problems; problems to which he sets about formulating solutions. These problems themselves often cannot be understood before they have been solved, resolved or contradicted, yet in applying a rational mind to the irrational world, Eatock channels inventiveness seeking out unsuspected connections from the mould of everyday life. Rigorous, yet refreshingly glib, a conceptual idealist yet a compulsive chancemonger, his practice not only rounds the circle, but reinvents and questions the very premise of what a circle might be. Unlocking the grooves of received logic, undesigning systems and reorientating conventions, Eatock’s process inventively returns us to the beginning of a question: a question that we are poised to ask.

Within Eatock’s diverse output he has collaborated with Channel Four television on numerous projects including the multifarious Big Brother ident. As co-developer of the ubiquitous Indexhibit web Content Management System, Eatock is the face behind more websites than you may have to date cared to notice, including his own. He is a compulsive serialist, a whimsical maker, an inventive collaborator and his particular conflation of design ideals and artistic exploration has seen his work presented internationally in what can only be seen as a fitting diversity of contexts.

Bio. by Cortney Lane Stell, Philip J. Steele Gallery

The impossibility of capturing a life, yet the custom of doing it anyway is perhaps why biographies are often prescriptive. Perhaps this is also why Daniel Eatock archives versions of his biography on this website. The biographical elements presented here similarly endeavor to highlight Eatock’s accomplishments…

Daniel Eatock is a British artist who takes no mind to boundaries—boundaries like those often found between art and design, commercial and art object, producer and author. A graduate of the Royal College of Art, Eatock has design experience at institutions such as the Walker Art Center as well as independent ventures such as interdisciplinary art and design studio Foundation 33. Eatock's care to systems, information, and archiving can be seen in both his monograph Imprint, published in 2008 by Princeton's Architectural Press, and his website. His website highlights Indexibit, a widely used Content Management System and website platform designed collaboratively by Eatock and Jeffery Vaska. No matter what tool he uses and whether it's for himself or a client, Eatock's practice is based on exploration of the world in which he lives, orienting himself toward the practical, creating new relations to everyday objects.

Bio. by Tim Milne

Bio. Portland State University MFA Lecture Series

London-based artist Daniel Eatock (born 1975) has a practice shaped by discovery, invention, and an alert sensitivity to coincidence and contradiction. A graduate of London’s Royal College of Art, Eatock served on the design staff of the Walker Art Center before returning to England to work with clients that include Channel Four Television and the Serpentine Gallery. In 2008 Princeton's Architectural Press published Eatock’s monograph Imprint. Entirely authored and designed by Eatock, the book is distinguished not only by its (deceptive) lack of apparent order but also by the fact that each individual copy in the run of 4,000 is unique.

Bio. 2010

Born 1975, Bolton, UK. Currently lives and works between London, São Paulo and Norway. A graduate of London’s Royal College of Art, Eatock served on the design staff of the Walker Art Center before returning to England to work with clients that include Channel Four Television and the Serpentine Gallery. An accomplished graphic designer, Eatock applies his former vocations skills to art-making. Embracing his design roots, his practice subverts strategies of communications, rational problem solving and formal design/un-designed methodologies. He uses invitations, opportunities and chance circumstance, actively seeking, embracing and responding to the coincidences and contradictions encountered in everyday life. In 2006 in collaboration with Jeffery Vaska, Eatock developed the ubiquitous website portfolio platform, Indexibit.org. In 2008 Princeton Architectural Press published Eatock’s monograph Imprint.

Bio. One Question Interview

Daniel Eatock is a London based artist who is interested in connections between image and language, titles, punch lines, miscommunication, subversions, open systems, contributions from others, seriality, collections, discovery and inventing.

Bio. AIGA

Born 1975, Bolton, UK. Lives E2 9EH. Attempts to draw a perfect circle everyday. Likes the color purple found in a flame, soap bubble or oil resting on the surface of water. Eats healthy, buys organic when possible, likes humble restaurants and rice and beans. Rarely drinks alcohol, makes fruit smoothies everyday. Listens to Camper Van Beethoven and Anthology of American Folk Music edited by Harry Smith. Has hay fever in spring, is allergic to milk. Cooks, cycles, walks everyday. Carefully chooses things that last. Photographs moments, alignments, coincidence and small things that go unnoticed. Likes the feeling of falling backwards. Tries to save time, resources and economizes when possible.

Bio. Arnolfini Gallery

Daniel Eatock is a London-based artist known for his conceptual approach to solving traditional client design problems, as well as those of his own choosing. He is fascinated in the connections between image and language, titles, miscommunication, subversions, open systems, seriality, collections, discovery and inventing. Eatock employs a reductive logic to his practice, toying with the paradoxes of function and non-function.

Bio. Princeton Architectural Press

Imagine the work of a young designer for whom concept and humor are more important than the glossy aesthetics of mainstream periodicals and design annuals and for whom the message trumps the media and you begin to get an idea of the refreshingly smart and thought-provoking work of Daniel Eatock. Rejecting the widely held opinion that work made without a client is “art” and work for hire is “design” Eatock challenges both categories by purposely blurring the distinction. Whether he is solving client problems or those of his own choosing Eatock’s work responds to personal fascinations and the desire to invent discover and present.

His commissioned works for clients include an exhibition catalog featuring sound chips a flip book handwritten notes and a cover wrapped in the upholstery fabric used on London transit seating as well as the graphic identity of the UK’s Big Brother reality-TV series among many others. Eatock’s idea of “entrepreneurial authorship” has resulted in numerous self-published limited-edition works such as an edition of prints made using every color of Pantone’s felt-tip pens and his Untitled Beatles Poster which includes the lyrics from every Beatles song. Eatock's most personal self-initiated artworks share an unabashed enthusiasm for punch lines miscommunication and seriality: there's the search for a stone that weighs exactly one stone; a perfectly hand-drawn circle the world's largest signed and numbered limited-edition artwork utilitarian greeting cards price label wrapping paper car alarm dances and a fruit bowl stickered with fruit labels.

The first monograph on this unconventional practitioner Daniel Eatock Imprint is as unconventional as the artist himself. While utilizing and embracing the expectations of a traditional monograph the London-based designer also challenges and subverts them presenting works based on connections and associations through color, composition, titles, material, and format rather than in chronological or hierarchical order. Constantly oscillating between art and graphic design, this book is full of Eatock’s astute observations and eccentric obsessions.

Bio. Misc.

Eatock is interested in connections between image and language, titles, punch lines, miscommunication, subversions, open systems, contributions from others, seriality, collections, discovery and inventing.

He employs reductive logic, and strives for objective and rational solutions to form concluded works. I am especially interested in the connection of the start and end points of a hand drawn circle.

Bio. AIGA / NYC

Daniel Eatock’s interests lie in the connections between image and language, titles, punch lines, miscommunication, subversions, open systems, contributions from others, seriality, collections, discovery, and inventing (as well as other small things that usually go unnoticed). A young British designer and artist, he is described by Steven Heller as “an obsessive design documentarian.” A graduate of Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication and the Royal College of Art, his independent art and design studio Eatock Ltd. focuses on both self-initiated art projects and commissioned design work. These range from simply collecting his own fingernail clippings to the 2005 creation of the no-frills “Indexhibit,” a free downloadable content management system.

His first monograph, Daniel Eatock Imprint, has just been published by Princeton Architectural Press. Constantly oscillating between art and graphic design, each copy individually marked with his own thumbprint, this book is full of Eatock’s astute observations and eccentric obsessions.

Bio. Elisa Platteau Galerie

Born 1975, UK
Lives and works in London

The English artist and designer Daniel Eatock (b. 1975) studied at London’s Royal College of Art. He worked as a designer at the Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, Minnesota) after which he returned to England to undertake contracts with Channel 4 television and the Serpentine Gallery, amongst others. The pictorial and linguistic techniques, the norms and procedures belonging to the milieu of graphic design, thus form a habitat in which his work can unfold. In contrast to his colleagues, Daniel allows new images to emerge by shifting their context or linguistic definition. Their new context is a new form of observation, of perception.

Bio. by Steven Heller

Daniel Eatock, a London-based artist and graphic designer, is an obsessive design documentarian and a champion of democratizing information architecture systems. His basic design methodology is rooted in a reductive logic that strives for objective and rational website designs. In 2005, Eatock co-created, with Jeffrey Vaska, a free, down-loadable content management system called Indexhibit that enables people to build simple websites that bring content to the fore. Indexhibit’s no-frills approach is evident on Eatock’s own site, eatock.com, an extensive repository for objects, prints, and photographs (his own and others’) that reveal his intense fascination with the art of observation and the pleasure of unexpected connections. A 1998 graduate of the Royal College of Art, Eatock interned at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis before returning to England in 1999 to launch the design firm Foundation 33, which he later merged with the creative agency Boymeetsgirl. In 2003, he started Eatock Ltd., through which he builds and main-tains his database of photographic projects and completes work for a range of entertainment and cultural clients, including Samsung and Channel 4. The art world has also embraced him, and various galleries have exhibited his con-ceptual art. For a 2007 show at London’s M+R Gallery, he stuck his collection of tape rolls to a beam and let them slowly unwind to the floor. Eatock refers to his process as “entrepreneurial authorship,” which includes numerous limited-edition works such as Untitled Beatles Poster, a printed piece bearing the lyrics to every Beatles song.

Bio. Icograda

Born 1975 Bolton, UK.  Lives and works in London, UK
I am interested in connections between image and language, titles, punch lines, miscommunication, subversions, open systems, contributions from others, seriality, collections, discovery and inventing. I employ reductive logic, and strive for objective and rational solutions to form concluded works.

Bio. Corraini

Born 1975 in Bolton, UK. Lives and works in London, UK.
Daniel Eatock is interested in connections between image and language, titles, punch lines, miscommunication, subversions, open systems, contributions from others, seriality, collections, discovery and inventing. Makes conceptual things that are resolved in a reductive, logical and objective way, and is especially interested in the connection of the start and end points of a hand drawn circle.

Bio. Walker Art Center

Daniel Eatock is a London-based designer known for his conceptual approach to solving traditional client problems as well as those of his own choosing. Eatock graduated from the Royal College of Art and worked as a designer at the Walker Art Center before returning to England to create Foundation 33 and most recently Eatock Ltd. His work has consistently employed a systematic but not necessarily dogmatic rigor that privileges the elemental over the extraneous—a philosophy neatly embodied in his motto: “Say YES to fun & function & NO to seductive imagery & colour!” His work for entertainment and cultural clients ranges from such projects as the graphic identity and promotion for the British television hit Big Brother to a street exhibition of Warhol billboards for Channel 4 to a collaboration with artists Oliver Payne and Nick Relph for an exhibition catalogue with sound chips, a flip book, handwritten notes, and a cover wrapped in the upholstery fabric used on London transit seating. Eatock’s idea of “entrepreneurial authorship” has led to the creation of numerous self-published limited-edition works such as Untitled Beatles Poster, which includes the lyrics from every Beatles song, and the 10.2 Multi-Ply Coffee Table, fabricated from an entire single sheet of plywood.

Bio. One Friday

He recently formed Eatock Ltd, an independent art and design studio where his inventive entrepreneurial approach to authorship and his adherence to the integrity of ideas are applied to commercial design work and contemporary art projects.

His varied portfolio includes the creation of the world’s largest signed and numbered limited edition artwork and the ongoing design and development of the Big Brother identity for Channel 4 television.

Bio. Misc.

Daniel Eatock is a graduate of Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication and the Royal College of Art. He worked as an intern at the Walker Art Centre in Minneapolis before establishing Foundation 33, a multidisciplinary practice that later merged with creative agency boymeetsgirl. He recently formed Eatock Ltd., an independent art and design studio where his inventive entrepreneurial approach to authorship and his adherence to the integrity of ideas are applied to commercial design work and contemporary art projects. His varied portfolio includes the creation of the world’s largest signed and numbered limited edition artwork and the ongoing design and development of the Big Brother identity for Channel 4 television.