HISTORY OF ALEX

I was born on the 12th of September 1980 at The Royal Free Hospital in London and was apparently a very quiet child. I grew up with one older sister and one younger sister and life was always a battle to not be 'feminised.' My sisters were great company and in a strange way we all seemed to get along (and still do).

We moved to Cyprus when I was around 2 years old (due to my father's work) and, from what I remember, we lived the good life. We even had our sports day in a place called Happy Valley! The school bus would pick us up at goodness knows what time in the morning but we were done by lunch, and if we were lucky, we would spend the afternoon on the beach. The bats at night and the size of the cockroaches used to freak me out a bit but all in all it was amazing.

Then we moved back to Blighty.

It was all new to me as I don't really recall the first 2 years of my life, but what I knew was that there was minimal sunshine and that everyone didn't seem as happy.

I remember drawing at my gran's house in total silence with a tankard full of multi-coloured pens, biros and pencils and with any scrap of paper that was available. It didn't matter that there was no noise, the sound of my colouring in was fine enough for me. I could transport myself anywhere I wanted with just my imagination - draw an island and picture myself on the beach. Drawing was and is another dimension to life.

At around ten years old, I somehow managed to get a cartoon published in the local paper, The Archer in East Finchley, which turned out to a be a regular monthly thing for me. I drew a character called Noel who was a schoolboy who was a tad geeky and quiet (pretty much me at that age) and would be in some sort of situation related to East Finchley. After a year or two of Noel, I decided to go for another direction. I became a fan of the incredible Gary Larson and wanted to try stretching my humour in the form of a single-framed cartoon series called Take A Jump. It really was surreal and went completely the opposite way of what Noel was up to.

The pens laid unused on the table for a good few years whilst I 'discovered life', worked as a planner in construction, and joined various bands (that gave me the opportunity to 'tour' the London small venue scene for what was a great time!), but I always kept a pencil sharpened.

From living in a hot happy country to moving to a cold sullen one, from being ganged-up on by two (perfectly sweet) sisters, from having the most cool and supportive parents you could ask for, and having the most incredible, loopy gorgeous wife you could ever dream for, and a baby son who is our sun, I am now creating work and living a life that my childhood self would have been proud of - I am young at heart.

If you have the time, please have a look though my work and perhaps email me.

We now reside in Bedfordshire so we're now a little more central to this beautiful country!

The future is not yet written or drawn.

Alex Athanasiou