Borin Van Loon : Who He? / LINKS

Borin Van Loon portrait

Borin Van Loon has been a freelance illustrator since 1976. He is an author, collagist and surrealist painter and has worked for a wide variety of clients in editorial, publishing and promotion. A selection of work is included on this site encompassing books, comics, model-making and non-commercial/self-promotional paintings and collage. He has created an eclectic collage/cartoon mural on the subject of DNA and genetics for the Health Matters Gallery in London's Science Museum. His main aim in life is to pose questions which disturb and amuse in equal measure.

Catherine Larner's long, long awaited article on Borin and The Bart Dickon Omnibus was published in the January 2008 issue of The Suffolk Journal.

Bart Dickon, The Ideologically-Sound Secret Agent, of The Chap magazine has been anthologised in The Bart Dickon Omnibus by Severed Head Books. You can buy copies of the book via secure server whether or not you have a PayPal account; there is supporting material and a Bart Mart for Bart Dickon gifts, too! He now has a presence on myspace.com and has a regular blog of his adventures for fans to read - see Links below. The Omnibus has garnered some impressive reviews and a number of shops (physical and virtual) now stock the title.

Borin's book DNA for Beginners
at last has a page of its own and is soon to be revised and republished: see the Introducing series page for further information and images.  And just to show the breadth of interest (in this case of mythical proportions) of this Rennaissance Man, we found this book during a recent trawl of the web: "Cytotaxonomical Atlas of the Balkan Flora (Cytotaxonomical Atlases, Vol 4) by Borin Van Loon. Lubrecht & Cramer Ltd; Released: August, 1987; List Price: £55.06" (http://www.medfools.com/shopuk/SearchKeyword/Borin%20Van%20Loon/books/keyword/5.html). If only Borin had actually written this work...

Two pages of new collage comics in full colour added here.
(We are able to offer many images on this site as limited edition colour prints. Contact us here.)

Accidental Etymology of 'Borin Van Loon' [see also The Van Loon family page]
1. So Soon: Slag Boom Van Loon (Mu Ziq: Speedy J). 2001 Remix Album on label: PLANETMU featuring Boards Of Canada. As played on Radio 1 by John Peel. 2. J.R.R. Tolkein's 'Lord of the Rings': fictional world of Middle-earth, Borin is a Dwarf of Durin's Line, the second son of King Náin II. He was the ancestor of both Balin and Gimli, Elf-friend of the Company of the Ring. 3. Loon: Great Nothern Diver, see Page of Loons.
And just to show the breadth of interest (in this case of mythical proportions) of this Rennaissance Man, we found this book during a recent trawl of the web: "Cytotaxonomical Atlas of the Balkan Flora (Cytotaxonomical Atlases, Vol 4) by Borin Van Loon. Lubrecht & Cramer Ltd; Released: August, 1987; List Price: £55.06" (http://www.medfools.com/shopuk/SearchKeyword/Borin%20Van%20Loon/books/keyword/5.html). If only Borin had actually written this work...


Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Triclops

Borin's project site involves his interest in the use of historic lettering on walls in his home town of Ipswich (and further afield). The galleries of images gathered over several years show a bygone era of advertisements, company names, street signs and architectural lettering. The site continues to develop and browsers are asked to contribute information and amendments at: http://www.geocities.com/ipswich_lettering

THE LINKS SECTION

Let us know if you have an appropriate website and would like to link to us...

Bart Dickon on myspace.com for his blog and more!
Freelance Association
: an informal, locally-based group of creative professionals of which Borin is the Chair; the creative-freelance site has a great gallery of work (including Borin's) therein plus articles and information.
KeyArts, Ipswich: Borin is a member and has a new membership profile on their site,
Richard Appignanesi: poet, curator, editor of the 'Introducing' series, novellist and thinker, whose Yukio Mishima novel uses Borin's painting on the cover.
Icon Books publish the extensive (nearly 100 titles) Introducing series as well as other books on a variety of topics.
Tarquin Publications: a Suffolk imprint which has been producing educational, mathematical and model-making books for years. See DNA and Geodesic Domes.
The Chap magazine regularly features Borin's collage comics and 'A Severed Head' ran there for several years. Try http://www.thechap.net/borin.html
'Lonely Planets: The natural philosophy of alien life' David Grinspoon's Funky Science site. Borin has contributed to his award-winning book.
Panther Sweat is a site featuring work by Michael Szczepanski which uses Borin's 'Panther' painting in its masthead.
Mary Reufle's poetry books are available from Cornell University and are also on amazon.com. See our Weather book page.
Know Your  Product website and Ipswich shop stock 'The Bart Dickon Omnibus'. Excellent outlet for independent music CDs, 'zines, books and clothing.
Steel Rhino (classic rock band) have a website, as well as a myspace presence.
The Whipple Museum Of The History Of Science, Cambridge, U.K. displayed several Van Loon DNA-related works in its 2003 Double Helix exhibition; the accompanying book which also features Borin's work can be found on the linked page.
Barsham/Coypu site: Mike Weaver's site commemorating the East Anglian Fairs in the seventies, dedicated to the memory of Borin's old friend Mick Sparksman. Now includes Borin's photograph of the Gnome and Loon stall at Barsham Faire 1976 (also one of Bruce Lacey and Jill Bruce at a fair perfomance).
Paul Gravett, comics afficianado, has been very encouraging to Borin's Bart Dickon project. See his new book on Great British Comics.

Why not visit fellow East Anglian artists' sites?-
Maureen Galvani
Annabel Mednick
The masque : Mark Wilkinson
The Derz : Keith Dersley's Ragged Edge website with poetry, music and more.

And kinsman from Holland-
Erik van Loon : seek out the card galleries, some very nice lino/woodcut homages to great works of art (with 'hidden' originals).
John Van Loon - another (transatlantic) kinsman: his genealogical webpages contain much interest.

also ...
Julian Hill : 'post-surRealism fakeTate Gallery'. Several virtual galleries of excellent digital photomontage (some of it moves about).

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©2004 Copyright throughout this site belongs to Borin Van Loon