The Memory Remains 2 - The Original
- Nothing like a bit of pressure with this one! Without doubt the most requested and anticipated sequel to one of my earlier works so even though I always knew what I would do it certainly added something to the process! In fact, it almost didn’t happen, oh how we laugh seeing someone drive off with their fuel cap on their roof from a petrol station. What about leaving your studio in pitch blackness with your laptop on the roof before getting home and realising you left it in the studio but then approach a bend in the road to see what is blatantly your laptop smashed to bits after being run over by what looked like a monster truck.
The piece was about 80% done and saved ‘locally’ and due to go to print in two days’ time, oh how I wept like a baby. Blubbering and crapping myself aside I luckily was saved by ‘iCloud’ and was able to finish it to what you now see today. There’s a story for the Grandkids right there.
‘The Memory Remains’ focused on an intriguing, classic toy shop – a million miles away from how we shop for our kids nowadays. So, what we see in the follow up is inside the toy shop, a nostalgic feast of pretty much every toy that you can think back to owning or wanting to own. The room is full to bursting with classic games, toys and sweets in the hope that I have created the ultimate shrine to our childhood playtime. This is without doubt the most labour-intensive piece that I have created to date, with in excess of one hundred hours going into the scene. There are subtle qualities that link visually with the first piece in terms of composition and I am keen to see if you spot them.
I am always keen for my pieces to link together and this is done here by some of the toys and teddies being referenced in the toy shop that are also shown in my 2019 ‘Skool’s Out’ piece where the Summer holidays are in full swing (can’t help myself with the puns). This shows that everything revolves around the toy shop that you see here now, there was none of this shopping around or click and collecting – it was that trip in with you family or friends to the toy shop in town and you loved and lived every minute of it.
So, for everyone who owns the first piece or missed out but hoped for a great follow up I genuinely hope that you love what you see and that I have done justice to your memories. I have loved every single minute of creating this piece (with the exception of paragraph 1!) and on a personal level it has reinforced what a cracking childhood I enjoyed and without doubt those memories burn more vividly than before, the best memories will always remain.
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- Released: 2019
- Collection: Retrospective
- Specification: Limited edition fine art print, hand signed by artist.
- Image Size: 48” x 36"
- Framed Size (Approx): 54” x 41"
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- Get in touch for overseas delivery
- Please allow approximately 14 days for delivery, should you need delivery sooner please let us know.
Commissions
When workload allows Mark embraces client commissions and has enjoyed amazing success to date. If you have been inspired by the work that you have seen and have a specific idea or simply a seed then please do get in touch.
Commission EnquiriesRelated Items
A Way of Life (Black & White) - Original
£4,850.00
- When setting out on planning my ‘Retrospective’ collection my intention was always to give music a strong presence as it is so often the catalyst that ignites a memory no matter how far down that resides.
I absolutely bloody love music, it has always had and always will have a huge influence in my art. I need music to set me free, to let me bleed. I love how an allegiance to a group can completely dominate the music you listen to, the clothes you wear and the wheels that you ride in on. I love how it becomes so much greater than the sum of it’s parts, how it takes over and becomes a way of life. ‘Quadrophenia’ has long been on the list of films to tackle for me, it was simply about timing.
The cult groups of the Mods and Rockers are so iconic and seeing as though the subject matter has been ‘done to death’ and largely in the same way I wanted to do something a little different. I won’t profess to belonging to either of the two. I can’t ride a motorbike or a scooter, the closest I came was getting a bone-shaking ‘backy’ over the freshly ploughed fields of Great Barford as a kid and holding on to my mate’s big brothers motorbike as I rode back home on my Peugeot racer bike as he accelerated to the point that my tyres glowed a brighter red than all 4 cheeks. Yet my partner is desperate to own a Vespa so that’s good enough for me.
Research is a big part of the planning and the key detail that kept coming up was the ‘Battle of Brighton’ where the two groups caused havoc. That got me thinking, I focused on the pure passion that both sides had for their own whilst also the dislike they also held for their rivals. As Paula Abdul once told me, opposites attract so that was my hook for this piece. What we see is the moment where two people, a Mod and a Rocker choose to meet and defy the rules to be together. Whether that be a courting couple or just mates is up to you but I love the sentiment, like a modern take on Romeo and Juliet, possibly. A sweet sacrifice.
This image is all about what you don’t see that makes it so personal. I wanted to create a beautiful piece of art yet one that has an edge to it. I love how the lighting completely changes everything, unifying all of the elements. I love the calmness, the warmth, the sense of a new dawn breaking and a moment cherished. Love will always find a way.
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- Released: 2023
- Collection: Retrospective
- Edition Size: 1 of 1 Original
- Specification: Mixed media original piece, hand signed by artist.
- Image Size: 48” x 36"
- Framed Size (Approx): 54” x 41"
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- Get in touch for overseas delivery
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Available for immediate despatch!
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"
Hadouken - The Original
- I have and always will be absolutely shit at ‘Streetfighter 2’, I took so many beatings. I studied the small print to try and master the moves but my tactic just resorted to pressing every button I could as quickly as I could. My favourite was always Blanca, what a beast! I loved Dhalsim – he was like a double-hard Inspector Gadget. I despised Ken, arrogant as hell but he could do the ‘Hadouken’ like no other, so he had to take on Blanca one more time, oh and his crisp red outfit complemented my beast’s mane so the stage was set. FIGHT!
My brother had a NES, I was useless at ‘Duck Hunt’ so I stuck to ‘Paperboy’ on the Amiga. My mate John had a SNES and ‘Streetfighter 2’, he was great at it – why was I so bloody useless? I loved the game, a million miles away from ‘Potty Pigeon’! I think I did improve, slightly but would always get slapped down by the fatty in the nappy or my head kicked off by a screeching girl.
Yet ignoring my pitiful displays my memories I take from this game far outweigh the embarrassment and I loved creating this piece. Has it made me want to get back involved with the game? Yes. Will I be any better now we have the use of the internet ‘how to’ videos? No chance! It has made me think back to quality time with quality life-long mates who I know more than ever that I need to make time to see them more, different world, new battles, same characters.
The original plan for this was to create a really gritty market scene and have the characters fighting amongst it but after seeing the vibrancy of the ‘Masters Of The Universe’ piece I changed direction and chose to use a backdrop of a stunning temple where the full spectrum of colours could be embraced and amplified. So, what you see is actually brutal yet beautiful, something that I have often embraced in darker pieces where we consider the negative as an art form and a thing of beauty through striving to master ones’ skill.
I also always intended to overlay the scene with gameplay screen details such as the ‘life bar’ and scores but I decided against this once I saw how intense and real the scene had become and it really felt like you were stood there watching the fight unfold rather than simply playing a game. This is the very quality that I hoped to achieve where you are using every bit of your imagination to really live the moment. I am so pleased with the end result that it has 100% created the platform for exciting developments… Round Two!
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- Released: 2019
- Collection: Retrospective
- Specification: Limited edition fine art print, hand signed by artist.
- Image Size: 48” x 36"
- Framed Size (Approx): 54” x 41"
-
- Get in touch for overseas delivery
- Please allow approximately 14 days for delivery, should you need delivery sooner please let us know.