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 also 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 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 this magnus opus 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
  is soon to be republished in a revised edition by Columbia University Press: see the Introducing series page for further information and images.  Borin has completed work on Introducing Statistics (due out in September 09) written by Eileen Magnello. Borin's blog about the project.

The painting sequence Meet the ancestors and the major work Butterfly on a branding iron are now included here.
The book jacket paintings for John Timpson's novels Paper trail / Sound tracks at last added to this site.

(We are able to offer many images on this site as limited edition colour prints. Contact us here.)
Borin Van Loon: Self portrait
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 the much-missed 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...
Borin Van Loon & Bart Dickon now appear on Wikipedia and Eyeplorer (link in section below).

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 featured Borin's collage comics and 'A Severed Head' ran there for several years.
'Lonely Planets: The natural philosophy of alien life' David Grinspoon's Funky Science site. Borin has contributed to his award-winning book.
Mary Reufle's poetry books are available from Cornell University and are also on amazon.com. See our Weather book page.
Corndog Publishing stocks 'The Bart Dickon Omnibus'; specialises in independent 'zines and books.
Steel Rhino (classic rock band) have a myspace presence; see Borin's take on their image here.
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 many books on comics.
Eyeplorer features Borin, Bart and the sum of all human knowledge; previewed on our page here. Much of which comes from entries on Wikipedia.

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 a 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).

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©2004 Copyright throughout this site belongs to Borin Van Loon