I’ll Be There for You (Friends) - Standard Limited Edition #37/45
- HOW YOU DOIN?! Ok, that’s out of the way so onto the narrative! As with a good number of the pieces that feature in ‘Retrospective 2’ ‘Friends’ was a subject that I have been asked if I would take on and I am so glad I finally have. It is always a matter of timing; a cracking piece can risk falling flat if it is released at the wrong time. This collection was planned in 2019, just as 2021 is being discussed now and despite 2020 becoming a year that is hopefully like no other it actually transpired to give this piece a whole new level of poignancy.
The scene is set within the charming ‘Central Perk’ and focuses on the iconic sofa that so many moments were filmed on. The coffee shop is full to bursting with detail yet totally empty of people, literally everyone looks to have upped and skedaddled. So, you could look at it as being down to Phoebe’s atrocious singing or Marcel maybe dropping his guts or maybe something a little different. Your piece, your call. The reason ‘I’ll Be There For You’ has taken on such a different quality is down to the fact that whilst I was creating it lockdown happened, again. Restrictions on friends and family meeting up indoors, coffee shops and other places where we loved to meet up were and still largely are all shut. So, this scene really does serve as a reminder just how wonderful it is to be free to meet with those who raise your spirits and how moments need to be cherished and embraced.
‘I’ll Be There For You’ is the first piece to feature in a new wider ‘panoramic’ format to help me squeeze in even more detail and the end result once you see it fully framed really is something special. It’s big, not ‘sofa big’ so hopefully there will be no need to… ‘PIVOT!’ There is a ridiculous amount of detail to spot! Iconic objects and moments are interpreted in my own random way, I have hidden really subtle details and my lips are well and truly sealed on those as I hope that once friends and family are able to meet that they’ll maybe spot something that you missed and so the conversation starts and memories build.
The funny thing is that ‘Friends’ used to be on non-stop years back in my house and I bloody hated it! Well, I think I did, but the reality was it was just during a period of huge stress and I couldn’t handle it. The canned laughter, the over the top one liners, I flipping despised Monica, there you go, I said it! Yet now, looking back I asked myself did I actually really hate it? Probably not. The reason I now know, is that ‘Friends’ is back on as a near permanent feature whilst feeding our faces and I really enjoy it. Monica still winds me up, but I love it. The reason for this was highlighted last night actually and personified so much of what I had hoped to be able to do.
A fundamental part of my decision to become an independent artist was to be able to spend much more time with my daughter, Olivia who was about to turn thirteen. All I did was work to survive and I barely had any time (or admittedly head space) for her. Bad eh but true.
Two years or so on and what a difference! Ok so I probably under-estimated the teenager desire to head to her room at any chance, but things are so different, my day is different, my mindset is different. Yes, the darkness is there and probably even darker, but I’m turned towards the light for sure. Last night was great, rather than heading straight back to her room Olivia stayed down and we watched a good couple of hours of episodes, and it was great, something that should be so normal but when normal was anything but normal this was just lovely. Maybe it was partially down to her seeing that I was enjoying the TV rather than feeling guilty of it being on that kept her sat for longer, but I guess it just shows how your mindset can have such an impact on people around you.
UNAGI!
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- Released: 2020
- Collection: Retrospective 2
- Edition Size: 45
- Specification: Limited edition fine art print, hand signed by artist.
- Image Size: 30” x 18.5"
- Framed Size (Approx): 38.5” x 27"
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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
Smile (The Joker) - Canvas Limited Edition #2PP
£708.75
- It was initially going to be purely based on ‘The Dark Knight’ film with the wonder of Heath Ledger but for me personally from watching the most recent ‘Joker’ movie and being left completely open mouthed by the pure brilliance of the brutality and the utter sadness of the character and what happened to him, it took on a different form.
So, it started with a ‘Storyteller’ style piece where it’s this abandoned, derelict building that’s depicted as the asylum but done in a way that takes it to a whole different level by showing the characters. It’s a classic darkness and light concept that I love to work with and showing how closely that they can reside within a person, within a building, within their four walls. That was the aim to create something really dark, really beautiful but in a completely different way through showing the characters and touching on the battles that are going on within their heads and what that can ultimately lead to.
The decision to introduce the characters was a big one, it can spoil a piece, but the aim was to have them so that they are literally bleeding out onto the canvas, with sheer emotion that’s captured through the detailing. The idea being with the asylum is that it’s so difficult to leave but so easy to return and that takes on so many meanings.
This piece shows that contrast between the pure, sinister side of the Heath Ledger character where he’s absolutely seething within the shadows but then in complete contrast, we go across to Joaquin Phoenix where he’s totally lost in his own world. There’s no acknowledgement to the destruction that he’s causing, no remorse but ultimately happier and it’s showing how that can completely escalate and morph through. It’s been a wonderful piece to work on, one that has particular poignancy to me and I’m sure to many others.
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- Released: 2020
- Collection: Lost in Hollywood 3
- Edition Size: 10 + 2AP
- Specification: Hand embellished heavyweight artist canvas, double framed, hand signed by artist.
- Image Size: 36” x 27"
- Framed Size (Approx): 41.5” x 32"
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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.
Child's Play! - Canvas Limited Edition #5AP
£708.75
- My portfolio is as diverse as it is huge but one thing that is for sure is that you thundering lunatics seem to consistently go nuts for how I portray the retro toys and games within my ‘Retrospective’ works. So, in the spirit of Christmas, feast your eyeballs on this chaotic beast!
What’s that saying? Go big or go home? Well home is no place to get ideas for your Christmas list, is it? My insanely popular ‘The Memory Remains’ series featured a quaint little toy shop that then opened out into a vast cave of wonderment. The architects and structural engineers amongst my collectors would easily have thought how the heck was that possible from the exterior but it’s all in your head as a kid, it was always bigger and brighter in your imagination than reality and I have embraced that time and time again.
It's 2023 and I intend to embrace this Christmas, so I have gone big for this piece, bigger than BIG Ken’s Bell! Eh? Sorry, welcome to how my mind works! If you get it, I love you. Whilst so many of us have those memories of visiting the local toy shop and all of it’s charm, some will always favour the sheer magic and scale of the one and only ‘HAMLEYS’ on the iconic Regents street in London. Does it get better than that? Don’t spoil it and say ‘Duncan’s Toy Chest’, oh hang on – talking of spoilers ;) And don’t you dare say ‘Argos’, or ‘Toys R Us’! Those pens were crap, and that blasted giraffe was a bit creepy.
So yes, I have gone big, bright and quite brilliant if you don’t mind me giving my trumpet a quick tootie toot toot! ‘Child’s Play!’ was a genuine joy to work on, one that embodies why I don’t start off with a regimented list of what to include, it just evolves, swells and explodes out everywhere – just like those grotty bottied pigeons! This is as much an opportunity to look within the toy shop as within my peculiar mind! There is so much to see and decipher, I won’t attempt to list out or to even explain, I will just let you enjoy the madness and magic!
Art to me is everything, it is my escape and my time machine. I was going to drop in a line from ‘Back to the Future’ about not needing roads but it’s late and my bulldog wants his dinner, and his arse is my enemy. However, speaking of roads it reminds me of this ability to escape. It’s cool, you can keep the violins locked away but at the time I was creating ‘Child’s Play!’ my car had a cracked wheel from a pothole the size of the cave from ‘The Goonies’. I remember getting a lift from a good friend back to the studio and trying to explain what the hell I was doing that day. Have a good look inside Boba Fett’s cab and try and detail that to someone! Welcome to my world, I love it and I am so proud that you lot love it too!
Thank you for giving me the platform to look back to leap forward.
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- Released: 2023
- Collection: KIDULTS
- Edition Size: 20 + 5AP
- Specification: Hand embellished heavyweight artist canvas, double framed, hand signed by artist.
- Image Size: 36” x 27"
- Framed Size (Approx): 41.5” x 32"
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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.
 - Standard Limited Edition #37/45&media=https://markdaviesbritishartist.co.uk/cdn/shop/products/IBTFY-Full_9c6dc3c1-8b1a-49cb-8b49-4b4b1997bfd7_600x.jpg?v=1605957306){kind=link}
Free Spirit - Black & White (Breakfast at Tiffany's) - Canvas Limited Edition #1/5
£708.75
- I have wanted to do ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s for an age. With each movie collection I always strive to create a piece that is pretty and beautiful to contrast with others that are much more dramatic and intense visually. With the 50th anniversary of the movie falling this year it was the perfect opportunity. What you see is very different for me, which is a good thing. There has been a move towards the introduction of characters when the piece warrants it and rather than seeing a scene that is absolutely littered with detail I wanted to make it all about the character, Holly.
I wanted to portray her as she was, rather than how she wasn’t as it suits my work and is authentic to my way of thinking. Without a genuine connection or reason there is always a risk of the image becoming hollow. The details that do exist help to tell the narrative but in a much more simplistic way that results in a much more powerful and poignant image. It’s called ‘Free Spirit’ based on Holly’s wish to not be caged but being told she puts herself in her own cage. It is her wish to be set free, she is such a complex character, high maintenance, but adorable and innocent. This sense of being trapped and needing to be set free is a concept that has ran through my work since day one, an emotion that is driven through personal emotions and one that resonates with so many.
This is a classic example of how, when planning this piece you end up doing something so completely different to what you thought you would do all that time ago, and I love that. It is that pull that takes hold, resonates and takes you off on a much more honest direction. What you see is everything laid out around her, the open bird cage with the dove rising upwards that is really beautiful. In contrast you have the blackened thorns and withering roses that are twisting around the cage and the foot of her stool. It’s a very dark element that builds on the concept of needing to be set free from the negatives and darkness and it is this detail against such an iconic image that makes it mine and authentic. It is all about freedom and restriction. The piece features butterflies and birds that represent freedom and transition, expression and the ability to spread one’s wings. I absolutely love her expression, so innocent, confident yet fragile. There is a personal connection to this film that makes it authentic.
Audrey Hepburn was born in Ixelles - Belgium, my Grandmother, Mary was born in Ypres and met my Grandad, Geoff whilst he was a soldier in the second World War as he came into her Parent’s cake shop. After the war, my Mother, Anne-Marie was born in Ypres before they headed to England to start a new life which, given the circumstances must have been daunting and challenging to say the least. My wonderful Grandma was heavily restricted in her later years and my Mother has been incredibly restricted due to my Dad’s condition - so what this piece symbolises is absolutely massive. -
- Released: 2021
- Collection: Lost In Hollywood 4
- Edition Size: 5 + 1AP
- Specification: Hand embellished heavyweight artist canvas, double framed, hand signed by artist.
- Image Size: 37” x 26"
- Framed Size (Approx): 41.5” x 32"
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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.