Dan Stafford I love you; an open letter from James Cartwright

Dan Stafford where have you been all my life? Just round the corner in east London probably, making your beautiful work and keeping yourself to yourself. But I wish I’d found you sooner; I’d have pestered you endlessly to draw me things for the magazine, or draw things for my own personal collection. We’d have talked over briefs, joked about your early sketches for the commission and then fist-bumped over that final Photoshop file. We could have been great together Dan Stafford. Hopefully we still can!

Anyway, public display of affection aside, Dan’s work is (clearly) right up my street with its deft combination of soft, airbrush-effect textures and cold, hard geometric lines. It’s witty and fun when it needs to be but can be applied to heavyweight topics in its editorial form for the likes of The New York Times, The Guardian and Bloomberg Businessweek. This is smart stuff for sure and I’m 100% hooked!