Charles Avery, Pilar Corrias

For more than a decade, Scottish artist Charles Avery has been obsessively building a universe. He has imagined everything: topography, cityscapes, cosmology, social mores. The Islanders is a project of epic proportion, made up of drawings, philosophy, installations and texts. This fictional world represents the world of all ideas "I do not dream of the characters but they do talk to me during that intimate process of working on a piece of paper, drawing from the imagination", he says.

The likes of Avery are a rare sight in London galleries these days. He's an artworld darling, despite his abstruse, unfashionable work. His practice never strays far from drawing - in fact, he was kicked out of St. Martin's for his refusal to put down the pencil. The tutors said, 'We want you to stop drawing because you know how to draw.' He never has.

This January, head to Pilar Corrias present The People and Things of Onomatopoeia: Part 2—the latest instalment of The Islanders. This fourth solo exhibition at the gallery brings together new drawings, including portraits, furniture, jewellery, posters, giving an insight into The Islander’s culture.