All Bets Are Off - Almanac - The Original
- Well, well, well! A secret piece! For those of you who have followed the build-up to my Spring / Summer 2023 collection, you would have been expecting 6 pieces to be released. Wrong! There was always going to be 7 but I wanted to generate some additional excitement and reward for those who committed to coming to the launch show.
I have always made a big point of creating an intriguing teaser campaign ahead of my main releases, I want those who follow and support my art to be clued up as to what is coming as opposed to full on secrecy. However, it is a fine balance between giving away too much and too little. It seems to work, and work well but an element of surprise is always good!
So! ‘All Bets Are Off!’ is a dramatic piece that is my unique interpretation of that moment when the ‘Grays Sports Almanac’ (why does it seem so difficult to type that correctly each time?!) is torched in the movie ‘Back to the Future 2’. From my past collections, it is clear that I have a soft spot for the trilogy, and I wanted to do something different from a scene piece as I only released ‘OUTAREACH’ in 2022.
The pre-requisite for curating ‘Lithium’ was to create a vastly varied body of work that epitomises darkness and light, intense meaning, and pure good nostalgic fun. What this piece does is showcase just that, a cracking contrast to the hauntingly powerful ‘Storyteller’ pieces; ‘Lithium’ and ‘The Power of Love’. Yet, this piece is just as powerful, powerful through the amount of drama and energy that has gone into creating the limited editions and the bonkers original itself.
If you love the films, then you will love the Almanac and the impact that it brought. It’s iconic isn’t it. Imagine having access to that nowadays! I love the details that came with the book, the futuristic book receipt, and its holographic jacket. Both have been paid homage to with my version. This piece is a celebration of just how much effort I go to with my unique pieces to give the collector something truly special.
You know I love a double meaning in my concepts. At first glance, this piece is quite simply showing the book completely battered and burnt, picked up and framed like any worthy movie prop would be. However, look a little closer, think a little deeper and read between the scorch marks. ‘Greed Breeds Monsters’ has been stencilled onto the Perspex. This is a line that I have used since my formulative years in the industry and is tied to many narratives that shine a light on the implications of greed and the resulting mismanagement of money that follows. Could there be a better example of this than Mr Biff Tannen?!
This is a small detail within the piece that then links to the destructive power of the flames. I’ve melted Perspex before but not to this level! I wanted to create real drama and a tactile quality that could be lost by placing a barrier between you and the artwork through framing.
So, if you haven’t already, go grab one before Biff does! Oh, and keep it safe and locked up!
It was a cracking example of knowing that it could be great if it worked, but also that you could end up in A&E if it went wrong! No lie, it could have ended up like that! Filling a blow torch with gas when it was still on, flames that refused to give up that saw me run to the sink and throw the piece into the washing up bowl! There’s never a dull moment here! But just look at the results!
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- Released: 2023
- Collection: LITHIUM
- Edition Size: 1 of 1
- Specification: Blackened and burnt frame, heavily painted canvas, exploding effect perspex, receipt tag, hand stencil detail, hand signed by artist.
- Image Size: 36” x 27"
- Framed Size (Approx): 41” x 32"
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- Get in touch for overseas delivery
- Available for immediate despatch or collection
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
OUTAGAS (Back to the Future) - Custom Framed Canvas Limited Edition #1AP
£1,595.00
- Back in 2016, I created ‘Lost in Hollywood’, a collection of movie-inspired pieces that took my sales to a whole new level and I haven’t looked back since, well only in a nostalgic sense. That body of work gave me the opportunity to showcase my love for the ‘Back to the Future’ films as I created ‘OUTATIME’ that opened the doors into Doc Brown’s workshop in my own unique way. A ‘sold out’ piece that has since expanded to an array of artworks to showcase the three movies. ‘OUTAIDEAS?’ no chance, ever! Eight years on sees a brand-new piece ‘OUTAGAS’, and it is a belter! An edgy, gritty scene that is an absolute must for fans of the ultimate time machine!
I have been lucky enough to have a ride in an incredible replica of the DeLorean and seen the musical on Broadway, it’s a genuine love affair driven by vivid childhood memories that I hold so closely. Given by the reaction to each piece I create, it seems I am not on my own! Thank you. You guys know I love to place an iconic movie car into my work and the impact of the time machine is immense, it just looks epic from all angles. So, in contrast to ‘OUTATIME’ where I set it to just seeing the arse-end of the car, you now get to see it in its full glory, parked side on in front of a derelict gas station. It’s great to just create something that is ultra-cool and can be enjoyed for what it is without having to search too deep as to what is going on.
A previous piece ‘OUTAREACH’ featured Doc and Marty, riding high, not giving a cluck and it worked so well. I was tempted to introduce characters to this scene, and it would have looked great, however, there was this intriguing quality that radiated from this sense of abandonment that pushed me towards leaving them out. It just leaves it open to interpretation for you lot to decipher what is going on according to how your mind works. It’s a sense of teamwork that I’ve always enjoyed throughout the past decade. However, it didn’t stop me introducing the odd chicken, have you ever seen one fighting a vulture? Well now you have, who wins out though?
I’ve always embraced the qualities of derelict and disused buildings right from my first ‘Storyteller’ works, I find them fascinating and allows me to breathe new life and detail into them. This old gas station has turned out so well. Originally, I was heading down a different road with it as I was going to set it at night with a vibrant neon glow, but I felt that the desaturated palette was more in keeping with this current body of work. It has an aged and weathered quality, and I am really pleased with it. I do enjoy contrasting this static nature of the scene with dramatic movement as you see the vulture swoop in, met by the chicken who is trying to protect something that if fallen into the wrong hands can prove very dangerous – but is that the Plutonium or the Sports Almanac?
The DeLorean quite rightly steals the show, but I am so pleased how the supporting vehicles have turned out, I haven’t featured these before and they add a real quality to the scene. Marty McFly's 1985 Toyota Pickup SR5 is so damned cool, whilst the quirkiness of the VW camper is a nice contrast to the violent nature of its use by the Libyans. Did I stop there? Nope, there’s a third hiding somewhere! As well as the obvious, there are some cracking details to decipher and I won’t spoil it for you, most of those I meet who love the three films are proper die-hard fans (of the movies not me!) so I am sure you will get it! The glass bricks are a nice link back to ‘OUTATIME’ and the orange tones are a nod to the colours from the main logo. Ultimately, I guess the success of this latest instalment is probably what has been left out as much as what has gone in.
So does the title ‘OUTAGAS’ signal the end of the road for these pieces? Hell no! Where I’m going, we don’t need roads. I’m sure I’ve heard that somewhere before. Feel free to chip in with a possible new iteration of OUTA… as I have used a few so far! I’m sure we can get to eight, maybe not eighty-eight but let’s see! Over to you guys! Seriously though, the success of my Back to the Future pieces showcases the true power of love, for our shared love of these incredible movies. I couldn’t do it without the passion and commitment from you guys, people like you just fuel my fire.
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- Released: 2024
- Collection: Decadence
- Edition Size: 20 + 5AP
- Specification: Limited edition fine art print, 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
- Available for immediate despatch or collection from the Hive
Custom Framed Born To Lie (Pinocchio) - Large Limited Edition 1AC
£995.00
- No one likes a liar, no one.
This is a boy who hasn’t been scarred by lifes’ experiences too young, his first reaction to his creator was to laugh wildly in his face, what kind of freak does that? Geppetto was a true craftsman, a master of his trade who poured everything into creating Pinocchio only for things to turn very, very bad. Described by his father as wretched boy, this little blaggard caused havoc and turmoil and was cast out, ring-fenced and and abandoned. Can a child really be born ‘bad’? Surely not, it must be through inherited traits that clash and conflict with bad experiences and influences that they are exposed to? But how does that explain the above?
It is written that this rascal of a boy causes grief and frustration to his father and others but the fact that his first breath was a negative one means that maybe whilst creating his son, Geppetto unwittingly transferred some of his negative characteristics that had been dormant within, those that were a consequence of the pressures that he had been placed under through lifes’ struggles. The craftsman is undeniably good but no one is ‘perfect’ and stress mutates and breaks out in different ways. So who is actually the victim here?
This piece focuses on a frustrated and silently seething Pinocchio, sat slumped isolated and abandoned. His nose elongated and showing signs that he is still lying, the wooden limbs burn with the anger that is building within his body and mind. He knows what he is is doing is wrong, he can see the destruction and the hurt that radiates outwards but he can’t seem to stop it, is it his fault? Does he choose to lie, no, not in this case, he was simply made this way. On first look you see a crisp, beautiful scene before seeing the boys’ anger and frustration but as with so many of my pieces there are signs of hope.
Once a liar always a liar right? No.
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- Released: 2017
- Collection: Through Darkness & Light
- Edition Size: 10 + 1AP
- Specification: Deluxe limited edition fine art print, hand signed by artist.
- Image Size: 32” x 24"
- Framed Size (Approx): 47” x 35"
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- Free delivery to UK Mainland
- Get in touch for overseas delivery
- Available for immediate despatch or collection from the Hive
Custom Framed Bollocks to Bedtime! - Standard Limited Edition 45/45
£725.00
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Is there a more versatile or brilliant word that exists than ‘BOLLOCKS!’?! If there is then please share it. It’s funny, sometimes I feel choosing a title for a piece can be as hard as conceiving the concept for it. It’s the same for a song or movie title, it has to capture the mood and very essence of what has been created.
‘The Memory Remains’ was taken from a Metallica track that was on at the time yet was so perfect and has since been mentioned a few times! Sometimes the title becomes clear midway through the project, very rarely at the start. Yet this one was not until the very end, not that it was a bad thing.
The plan was always to create a nostalgia loaded image that pulled on the heart strings and was as cute as it was fun. The positioning of what you now see was always going to sit alongside ‘The Memory Remains’ series just like ‘Skool’s Out! 1 and 2 do, as they are all linked mainly through that initial day out to the toy shop, arcade, or cinema. However, the title couldn’t link to ‘The Memory Remains’ pieces as I wanted it to be able to viewed in its own right.
So, what started out as a challenge to find the perfect title moved away from something that could have been whimsical and warm to something so perfect as more and more toys were added to the bedroom. So, if those words were ever uttered by a child of that age, it without a doubt would have resulted in being sent straight to their room, but is that such a bad thing?! Just look at that room!
I know so many of you loved ‘The Memory Remains 2’ because of your affiliation with so many of the toys for sale within the toy shop and I hope you will fall in love with this piece just as much. So many of those toys have been bought and are laid out within the bedroom as well as so many cracking new additions that you may have forgotten about until now. ‘Bollocks to Bedtime’ is every big kids dream and is full to bursting with references that guarantees you will be saying ‘oh yeah I had one of those!’.
I wanted to capture that wonderful excitement that we had as a kid when we had so many toys that we truly loved, nothing compares to that era, our kids live in a very different world now. Not all bad of course but nothing will ever come close to the magic back then, amplified as I sit here with thoughts turning to Christmas and the utter brilliance of my memories as a kid around that time. You cherished every toy and immersed yourself in your imagination that grew from that interaction.
What we see is a room that is full to bursting with fun at that point where the kids have scarpered into their hiding places as the door opens, shining a warm light onto their toys and games. Can you really blame them? It’s impossible to sleep when you are wide awake with excitement. The longer that I worked on this piece, the more references that I added from being consumed with my memories as well as wanting to create the connection for you guys. It was about twelve hours into a very long day here and my bulldog George was sending me evils, when at the point of thinking I was finished, the title popped into my head. I was so pleased that it was so perfect, but it then amplified the concept of it being impossible to go to sleep and they were determined to stay up all night. This is where I then thought of the final random addition, a flat out ‘Alf’ soft toy being carried to bed by ‘Big Trak’! Random yes, fuelled by delirium in the studio and their bedroom but just demonstrates the annoying staying power of kids!
Have the batteries run out? Have they bollocks!
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- Released: 2022
- Collection: Retrospective 4
- Edition Size: 45 +5AP
- Specification: Limited edition fine art print, hand signed by artist.
- Image Size: 25” x 18.5"
- Framed Size (Approx): 32.5” x 26"
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- Get in touch for overseas delivery
- Available for immediate despatch or collection from the Hive