Monday 22 November 2010

Pandora

In case you missed it, heres my piece for the London Miles Gallery Nov group show 'The Idol Hours'. Iconic artworks reinterpreted for the modern age by an elite selection of New Contemporary artists. Running from the 12th November to 1st of December at their Westbourne Studios space in London the show has a great line-up of artists paying tribute to some classic works. Some of the artists showing include: Dave MacDowell, Stella Im Hultberg, Matthew Bone, Travis Lampe, Zoe Lacchei, Bob Dob, Carrie Ann Baade, Carles Gomila, Nom Kinnear King, Chris B Murray, Ken Keirns and myself.

I chose to pay homage to Dante Gabriel Rossetti's 'Pandora'. This was the first piece i had done as a one off digital work, it was painted digitally with painter as i usually work- printed on heavy cotton rag stock, hand embellished with acrylic, varnished and mounted on board. The end result was then custom framed and i have to say i was really pleased with how it turned out. Apparently it has got great feedback at the show and sold in a sneak preview a couple of days before the show opened! (as an aside to this- my 'Frankie' piece, which was also produced in the same way- also sold really quickly at the opening for the Eyes wide shut show in Bath the same night!) So going by the good feedback ive been getting i think i will be producing my work in this way from now on, with limited edition prints being reserved for a smaller size and much smaller run than previously published.

Heres my Pandora piece if you cant get to London Miles before the 1st of december and a couple of detail shots. In case youre interested the painting is about 20x28" / about 50x70cm, excluding the frame.


Saturday 20 November 2010

Saint Criminal

Here's a recent commission for T-post magazine in Sweden. To quote their About page: 'Offbeat news + graphic t-shirt = T-post, the world’s first wearable magazine. Every five weeks, subscribers receive a new t-shirt in the mail. News story on the inside. Artist interpretation on the front. All-around conversation piece.' Which is a pretty nice idea. They have been quite nicely selective with the artists they have chosen to interpret the main article in each mag so i was happy to be involved.

I was asked to interpret an article based on the subject of unusual sentencing for various crimes with the examples of an Ohio judge ordering a Salvation army worker who stole a collection tin containing about $250 to spend the night homeless (which i have to say was a bit lame- thats almost a drunk night out for most- a week or month may have been a better example!). Or the story of a judge ordering a man who slapped his wife to go to yoga classes and a woman convicted of animal neglect that led to the euthanization of one of her horses, being sentenced to 30 days in jail, the first three with nothing to eat but bread and water.

One of the most interesting was the story of Superior Court Judge Karl Johnstone ordering Capt. Joseph Hazelwood to spend 1,000 hours wiping rocks and cleaning beaches in Prince William Sound as punishment for steering the tanker Exxon Valdez onto Bligh Reef where it spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil.

After some direction from the guys at Tpost this was the basis for my illustration, hopefully it will look cool on the T!


Wednesday 10 November 2010

Friday 12th November...

This friday, the 12th November, i have work in 2 shows. First up is my tribute to Dante Gabriel Rossetti's 'Pandora' for the 'Idol Hours' group show at the London Miles Gallery and can be seen here on a showcard. If youre in London be sure to pop over and check out the show, its an impressive artist list and im really pleased to be involved and have my work hanging in such great company!



Next up is the 'Eyes wide shut' show by Fine Grime at the Walcot Chapel in Bath- my home turf! I have my 'Frankie' portrait and the 'All the Devils' works on show / sale at this exhibition so if youre local to the area, or if you fancy a night in Bath- pop in for a drink and check out the works on show that include pieces from Sylivia Ji, Carles Gomila, Natalie Shau, Fran Williams and Tom Lane (aka Ginger Monkey).



I was intending to get up to the London Miles show but plans have had to change and i will now be at the Fine Grime show in Bath so feel free to say hi!