Typewriter art exhibition honours literary legends

An art exhibition of famous authors is being displayed in a library, with one twist - the pictures were all drawn entirely with a typewriter.

James Cook was a teenager and studying to be an architect when he stumbled across the niche hobby of creating art with a typewriter. Millions of social media views and some celebrity endorsements later, he has made his hobby a full-time job.

The 29-year-old from Braintree, Essex, said: "All of this happened by mistake. I was quite happy to do typewriter art as a hobby."

His latest exhibition took him three years to complete and pays homage to 50 esteemed authors; particularly fitting as many would have used a typewriter.

Interwoven into the text are a number of hidden messages and facts about the literary legends.

For example, the sentence "2,000 words every working day" is etched into Stephen King's portrait.

The American novelist is famous for setting himself this target and his work ethic led to more than 350 million book sales worldwide.

The free exhibition at Colchester Library is on until 3 November.

While Cook honours famed faces from before his time, he is well known among the stars of today.

In 2022, Hollywood actor Tom Hanks wrote a personalised note on artwork Cook had sent him.

The two-time Oscar-winner has been collecting hundreds of typewriters "for no particular reason" since 1978. Cook owns 100.

Another admirer was Yeardley Smith, the voice of Lisa Simpson, who reached out to him and received a personalised portrait for her trouble - with a special twist.

Cook used "the Holy Grail" of typewriters, which can type musical notes instead of letters, enabling him to add them coming out of Lisa Simpson's saxophone.

He said: "I'm very lucky and fortunate that I'm able to do something that I love."

In July, Cook was invited to Wimbledon to create a piece ahead of the men's final.

He said being on centre court under the spotlights at 03:00 BST was an amazing experience.

"You hear the sound of the typing ricocheting off all the seats around the stadium. "It was just so surreal," he said.

The piece took him six weeks as it involved animation frames, a "recent addition" to his work. The frames involve Cook typing 50 separate frames and then flicking between them like a digital flipbook.

Cook has not been tempted by AI, insisting that the time and effort it takes to complete his work is exactly the reason people enjoy it.

"I think people really appreciate the fact that it's all done by hand, the fact that a single drawing could take me a month to produce," he explained.

"If I'm lucky, in the space of a single year, I might be able to create 12 drawings."

Cook's next stop is New York City, as he has been commissioned to depict the famous Rockefeller Ice Rink for its 90th birthday.

It is a large attraction, so he is using a typewriter three times its usual size and the completed work will be made up of two million letters.

He has also been invited to depict the Statue of Liberty.

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