Something for your wonderwall?
“Walking to the sounds of my favourite tunes” was a lyric that resonated with me as an art student at Central Saint Martins as I travelled to college every day.
It seems only apt then that I teamed up with music photographer Scarlet Page to collaborate on a series of Liam Gallagher screen prints.
Scarlet is the daughter of legendary guitarist Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, adding a further layer of rich musical history to the mix.
Scarlet was a natural choice as collaborator and recalls clearly the photographic shoot with Oasis where she photographed Liam in a grimy corridor at London’s Scala where the band were performing a date as part of their UK Tour.
Scarlet, “I remember fag butts all over the floor and cans of red stripe everywhere…the shot of Liam was taken in the daytime before a Black Crowes and Oasis concert, it was for a feature for an American magazine…”
The photograph of Liam looks like it was taken in a studio, not in a hurry; backstage at the Scala before Oasis were about to perform. Kudos to Scarlet for capturing a quiet and intimate moment of the Mancunian front man on film in the maelstrom of a live performance.
I wanted to echo the hedonism of rock n roll epitomised by one of the largest bands in the world at the time and chose to hand embellish the screen prints with diamond dust, a nod to the self-indulgent nineties when Britain was flying the ‘Cool Britannia’ flag to the rest of the world.
I created several limited editions in shimmering metallics and diamond dust which were launched soon after creation at Saatchi Gallery as part of Start art fair. On the opening day of the exhibition Scarlet co-signed the prints at the gallery and we launched them that evening. It was a champagne supernova moment when we launched and the response was unbelievable-Long live Britpop!