£3,595.00
I was lucky enough to be a kid in the 80’s but wow what a decade the 90’s were to be a teenager in! I started off being drawn more to the likes of the Chemical Brothers and the Prodigy, oh and randomly 70’s disco classics! My biggest musical regret was missing out on the iconic Oasis at Knebworth concert as it was just down the road from me and my mates had the time of their lives there. I remember listening to it unfold on local radio and from then on, I was hooked.
As like the brilliance of the nu-metal bands in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, the ‘Madchester’ era was like no other, what a phenomenal number of bands from such a concentrated spot in the U.K. My aim was to capture this along with a large number of iconic references that we remember well from that period.
The very first seed for this piece started years back and it was going to focus on the iconic Hacienda yet that switched to what we see here where we focus on the earlier stages of each band where they played in dark and cramped clubs. As like ‘The Memory Remains’ piece that gave you a glimpse of what lay inside, we get the same intrigue here with a look into the smoke-filled venue where all of the bands played before moving onwards and upwards.
I have always loved music album cover artwork and there are quite a few for you to spot, some subtle whilst the most blatant being the iconic floating Rolls Royce that was inspired by the Oasis ‘Be Here Now’ album cover.
I will leave you to seek out all of the details, some are completely random as you have come to expect from me – anyone who can explain the ‘Flipper’ dolphin reference is worthy of wearing a crown for the day! I absolutely loved creating this piece, the soundtrack in the studio was something else and without doubt contributed to the success of this piece and prompted a good number of last-minute references. Slip inside the eye of your mind as some might say.
Category: 1990s, Bands, Britpop, Charlatans, England, Happy Mondays, Madchester, Manchester, Music, Oasis, Rolls Royce, spo-default, spo-disabled, Stone Roses, Verve
Type: Original Artwork
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 Enquiries£4,850.00
Available for immediate despatch!
£3,595.00
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!
£4,250.00
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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MD Studios
1 Gransden Park, Potton Road, Abbotsley, Cambs, PE19 6TY United Kingdom
Tel: 07984 601370 Email: info@markdaviesbritishartist.co.uk
© 2024 Mark Davies British Artist.
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