Description

Stop Feeding The Birds! – Mary Poppins (Standard) by Mark Davies

Throughout my earlier ‘Storyteller’ works I have loved creating pieces of varying styles and scenes that showcased the wonder-full world of Mary Poppins. The narrative has always appealed as there is such quirky, randomness that glosses over a darker undertone that runs through.

A long-running story that I have been building suggests an intense relationship between Mary and Bert, one built on dominance and a battle for control yet one driven by an unquestionable love for one another. There are further suggestions to this within this crazy and bizarre scene that is overrun by birds – well they were warned not to feed them!

The working title for this piece was ‘A Spoonful Of F**k Knows!’ as I wanted to create something completely and utterly random! This scene set within Regents Park in London is a follow on from an earlier piece ‘Cast Off Your Shackles’ where this time a magical Carousel dominates the scene and provides the platform for so much detail to interact with it.

The aim was to create a piece that is so intense, bold yet pretty, classic yet current and I hope that I have achieved that here. This piece along with others within my latest ‘Storyteller’ works showcases a slight shift where I have sought to bring pieces that might initially look classical bang up-to-date with references that suggest a much more current time frame. These may just simply be fun references that give the scene context to the lead characters who you don’t get to see or other more topical and political details.

This was a cracking piece to create, incredibly challenging from a technical point of view but so worth it. I take equal satisfaction in placing two Flamingos within a giant tea cup (not much reference material for that!) to seeing my beautiful British Bulldog George make his debut, I might be biased but I think he might just steal the show!

‘Stop Feeding The Birds!’ is a showcase of how I love to create a scene that initially looks to be all things bright and beautiful yet the closer you look you notice things within the grass that shift things ever so slightly. It represents the acceptance to just how close darkness exists to light in this fairground ride that they call life, however the ultimate aim is for you to join me in celebrating Dear Old Blighty!

Mixed Media British Artist Mark Davies was born in Bedfordshire in 1978 and studied Fine Art within the region with his early works being inspired by the compositional qualities of Piero Della Francesca and Giuseppe Arcimboldo whilst finding inspiration in the surrealism of Salvador Dali. Now living in St Neots Mark works full-time as a professional artist from his beautiful converted brick barn studio within the Cambridgeshire countryside.

Mark’s now signature ‘Storyteller’ collection showcases his ability to conceive and implement his own narrative to cherished fairytales and classic fictional stories to stunning effect. Inspired by the eloquence of Hans Christian Andersen and ingenuity of the Grimm Brothers, a whole host of much-loved stories have been turned on their head with each chapter being re-written as Mark embraces the often much more sinister plot and motives of the original authors that most don’t know exists as these classics are re-told to generation after generation.

As well as creating mesmerizing imagery full of detail there has always been a subtle and genuine moral quality to the work created to make you think a little deeper. Mark’s original works have created such a wonderful interaction between artist and audience as each searches out the detail and pieces together the plot with the hope that they can get an insight into Mark’s thinking whilst being encouraged to offer their own interpretation of what they see or often don’t see within the image. This genuine engagement has played a significant part in Mark’s gallery shows and appearances being so successful and truly special events.

As the body of work has grown so has Mark’s reputation for creating art with genuine meaning, art that stands on it’s own and that is driven by a fascinating multi-layered narrative like no other. His skill of storytelling has expanded across other areas including stage and screen as he delivers his signature style across a broad range of subjects and genres that continue to pull on the heart strings and embrace nostalgia and the memories that we all hold so fondly. In addition to building a solid gallery presence, Mark’s success has seen his work proudly displayed and selling within iconic venues that include the London Playhouse and Fortune Theatre within the iconic West End along with the highly respected Mall Galleries in London.