Martin Sharp's Drawings
Early in 1968 Australian writer and journalist Craig McGregor published a compilation of his writings entitld People, Politics and Pop - Australian in the Sixties . The 221 page paperback book, published by Ure Smith of Sydney, featured cover artwork by artist Martin Sharp, along with 12 black and white drawings dispersed throughout relating to the text. All of Sharp's illustrations are reproduced below. The drawings were taken by Sharp during 1966-7, around the time of his departure from Australia and subsequent overland journal through Asia to England and London. They represent an important transition in his art from the early, angular line in black and white ink - as seen in his many works with OZ magazine and cartoons for The Bulletin - through to the more fluid psychedelic works which appeared as a result of his encounter with hallucinogenic drugs such as LSD after December 1966. The cover of People, Politics and Pop is a good example, mixing both styles. Cover artwor