£3,595.00
I have so many vivid memories as a kid being taken to football matches by my Dad, Michael, be it Saturdays at Luton Town or long trips up to Elland Road. Yet it was the real treat when you were taken to Wembley to watch an England game, it was always about how you felt seeing those famous towers and all of the football coaches parked up that I remember more than the game itself. Coming home with a flag or sweatbands that you would cherish long after the game.
I’ve only been to the new Wembley once (all part of being a Leeds fan!) and whilst it is a magnificent arena it is nothing in comparison to the stature of seeing those towers appear. So that was the aim for this piece, to create a scene where the stadium loomed up suddenly between buildings with a real sense of magnificence. Nostalgia personified.
What we see took an absolute age as I wanted to create a perfect scenario within the London street scene. I wanted to feature an iconic green tiled boozer and a proper old-school high street shop that we can all relate to. I saw the opportunity to link nicely in with the format of ‘The Memory Remains’ and I am really pleased with how it has turned out!
The piece is actually celebrating the World Cup win of 1966 with so much of the details paying homage to the Ramsey boys who lifted the ‘Jules Rimet’, there are some really subtle but beautiful details for you to seek out. However, the more you look you realise that the scene is actually set in the late 80’s, references to ‘Live Aid’ and the Queen sell out Wembley concert all help to build the story.
Those who follow my work closely will know that I love to inject a multi-layered narrative where possible and this is the case with this piece. ‘Greavsies Rentals’ is a quirky TV rental shop like so many of us can remember. This detail in itself provided a really great quality to the scene but right from the start I had wanted to feature a reference to the wheeler and dealer Del Boy.
I had originally intended to just have his three wheeler parked up in the side street but the more personality that grew from the rentals shop and the questionable quality of the goods I chose to showcase the source of the TV’s by insinuating that it was actually Mr Trotter himself that was supplying Greavsie! It is just a wonderful bit of randomness that I feel takes this piece away from simply being able to be embraced by football fans. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did creating it.
Category: 80s, Band Aid, Del Boy, England, Football, London, London Pub, Mini, Nostalgia, Only Fools and Horses, Queen, spo-default, spo-disabled, The Italian Job, Wembley Stadium, World Cup 1966
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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