Tim Lahan considers our primitive need to destroy

Date
1 September 2017

For It’s Nice That’s regular readers, Tim Lahan needs no introduction: the New York illustrator and designer’s work has been something of a mainstay on the site over the years, and, for the 13th issue of our magazine Printed Pages, Tim produced an A1-sized litho poster of a smile hidden among a pile of rocks.

His latest project comes in the form of a 16-page zine, published by Nieves this week. The Hot Seat is a set of drawings which shine a light on “the impermanence of the physical things we perceive in our reality. The destruction of these objects is motivated simultaneously by the primitive desire to see things destroyed, the resentment of existence and our inability to control the effects of nature”.

Visually, The Hot Seat neatly follows Tim Lahan’s sequential, apparently simple work. But in the place of Tim’s recent motif of immovably solid rocks are a slippery set of familiar objects — a chair, a clock, water drops, a hammer, a car — which appear to have been melted by the sun. “Most of my work is reductive in appearance, and while these drawings continue that,” Tim notes, “they were also a way for me to merge minimal graphic objects with a rendering leaning more toward realism.“

So what inspired it? “Without politicising things too much I think a lot of what’s going on in America and a frustration with American culture led me to look for an outlet for destruction that turned out to be pretty cathartic,” Tim tells It’s Nice That.

“Publishing the work in this way is exciting for me because it allows the body of work to be seen as a collection, rather than just individual pieces as they are in-person."

Above

Tim Lahan: The Hot Seat

Above

Tim Lahan: The Hot Seat

Above

Tim Lahan: The Hot Seat

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About the Author

Bryony Stone

Bryony joined It's Nice That as Deputy Editor in August 2016, following roles at Mother, Secret Cinema, LAW, Rollacoaster and Wonderland. She later became Acting Editor at It's Nice That, before leaving in late 2018.

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