Travels in cycling hyperreality – Artist draws gorgeous rear cassette piece – in pencil

We are big fans of any cycling-related art here on road.cc – other than sculptures made from bike chains that depict a dog doing what a dog does and needs bagging up afterwards, of course – and here is one of the most stunning examples we’ve seen in recent years, a hyperreal pencil drawing of a rear cassette, called Cogs.

It’s the work of Bristol-based artist and illustrator Martin Turner, who took 150 hours to complete it, and exhibited the piece at the Fresh Art Fair in Cheltenham this week.

An award-winning professional photographer, Turner has more recently turned back to his pencils to pursue his first love, illustration – and the results, we hope you agree, are stunning.

But that career spent behind the lens is also evident in his artwork through his use of depth of field, something captured easily on camera if you set the lens wide open, but way more difficult to convey using traditional media such as pencil on paper,

The work is available as a limited edition giclée art print of 100 at £125 apiece, with each print hand signed and numbered and printed on thick luxury 310gsm fine art paper surfaced on a black mount, to fit a 50 x 50cm frame.

On his website, Turner says that “using the traditional medium of pencil,” he “embodies the simplicity of fine art.  His hyper realistic pencil drawings are decisive, obsessed with light and texture, and imbued with a confidence that comes from the technical mastery of his medium.

“Working primarily on super smooth Bristol Board, Turner uses both traditional and mechanical pencils as well as graphite powder and blending stumps to create his unique style.

“Anyone who has seen his work up close will appreciate the incredible level of detail. Turner can often be seen using sandpaper to taper the end/lead of a pencil to ensure the finest of points.

“The astonishing fact that Turner only picked up his pencils in 2016 simply adds to the story,” his biography adds. 

Given the hours of work that went into the piece, we’re also quite taken by this picture of it as a work in progress.