Retrospective Original Works
The intention for 2019 was to have fun with my art and to focus on good old-fashioned nostalgia and have a break from my much darker, intense and emotionally challenging subjects and interpretations.
Lost in Hollywood 2 was a phenomenal success and helped me to achieve exactly what I had hoped and more, so for my final collection this year I have bloody gone for it and had so much fun with each of these pieces. You need to look back to leap forward and it seems that I have built a cracking reputation for amplifying the magic within nostalgia, taking subjects that we all know and love and making them brighter, bolder and better.
I love how so many enjoy seeing what resides within my mind and how I interpret popular subjects from years gone by and this has driven this new collection forward. With how things are outside of the studio I find myself looking back to memories growing up, channelling my mind in the hope that each memory becomes more vivid. What comes from that is appreciation and pride which I take to drive on with the battles that I face, it works.
So, I hope you love these new pieces as much as I have loved creating them, the most beautiful memories will always remain no matter how far down they now reside.
GLASTO! - The Original
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Is there a more epic and celebrated music festival than Glastonbury? Personally, nothing comes anywhere near it and that’s coming from someone who’s never managed to get a bloody ticket for the damned thing! The history of the festival is fascinating, set within the iconic Worthy Farm amongst the Somerset hills and under the watch of Glastonbury Tor. The music, entertainment and people are as diverse as what Mother Nature serves up each year.
For those who follow my work you will know that music is a catalyst and always the backdrop for my artworks, inspiring a concept, adding fuel to the fire of emotion that drives it or twisting lyrics to amplify what I am conveying. Art is everything, music is everything, they are how I bleed and how ultimately, I heal. It acts as a crutch, a comfort blanket, a shot of adrenaline.
A song can position you, to take you back to a time when things were great or not so great. For me, large parts of Glastonbury remind me when things were incredibly dark and challenging, times that I have fought to move clear from. For that weekend, watching hours and hours of the festival was a chance to escape and I loved every minute of it and was always gutted when it was over.
So many will have their own favourite memories from those who owned the stage, Metallica in 2014 was just stunning for a metal fan to see them smash it. Radiohead’s set in 1997 was beautiful, Paolo Nutini’s ‘Iron Sky’ lives long in the memory whilst the brilliant Foals set kickstarted my love for another great band who I wasn’t aware of before the festival. It’s always great to see the controversy surrounding some of the headliners and then watching them confirm why they deserve a place on the pyramid – all hail Stormzy!
In 2019 I set about planning how I could celebrate Glastonbury turning 50, to see it then cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic was gutting whilst naturally completely appropriate. I continued regardless and what you now see is an image that showcases each and every one of the headliners since T-Rex kicked things off in 1970. Music brings people together; Glastonbury brings people together and my piece ‘GLASTO!’ brings artists together for one hell of a session!
The iconic Ribbon Tower and Pyramid stage sit in front of the silhouetted hills as the sun sets or rises depending on how you see it. I wanted to capture the energy and passion as they perform together whilst also conveying that wonderful sense of calm after overdoing it. A fire is the centre piece to bring people together and to reminisce, the magical details that radiate out from the flames and fill the scene signify this as the fuel for stirring and reigniting memories, some to keep close, others to set free.
I hope you love this piece as much as I have loved creating it and I hope that it pulls at your heart strings, whilst doing justice to the phenomenal work by Michael and Emily Eavis. Nothing can stand up to the live festival but I’m pretty confident ‘GLASTO!’ can give you hours of entertainment trying to tick off all of the hidden headline acts. So, grab a drink and your wellies and enjoy the spirit of Glastonbury, I predict a riot! -
- Released: 2020
- Collection: Retrospective
- Specification: 1 of 1 original
- Image Size: 48” x 36"
- Framed Size (Approx): 54” x 41"