Greetings from the studio… it’s been a while! The story so far… once upon a time I was clearing up some boxes in the attic when I came across a whole load of old studio cassette tapes, which gave me the idea to paint some of them. As you know, this idea came to fruition, and I ended up with a large collection of original paintings from which I did limited edition prints. Many of you probably bought them!
My next ‘grand-projet’ was also kind of accidental. I was in Los Angeles and started to take pics of signage/diners/motels. I have always been fascinated by their kitsch, colourful, urban aesthetic. And that Californian blue sky! But again, like the cassette series, I felt like it was connected to the Pop Art mantra of ‘elevating the mundane’ (Andy Warhol):
Some years later I once again found myself looking at boxes of memorabilia and came across a selection of AAA backstage passesfor The Specials gigs/tours. Looking at them, I began to imagine them as larger than life paintings/prints so decided to give it a go. Hence, I’m currently working on a collection of about 20 of these paintings, and, to my mind, they look pretty cool… falling neatly into the category of Pop Art!
The originals of these are being sold by Colley Ison Gallery in Birmingham: with an exhibition planned for this Autumn (date tbc). Because these images haven’t yet been released publicly, enquiries can be made to Tim Ison.
Meanwhile, I’m doing a selection of 4 timed-edition prints. As I’m late going to press, the first timed edition (of The Specials 30th Anniversary Tour in 2009) has SOLD OUT!
