Mark D
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Mark D is a British artist and punk musician (guitarist and songwriter). He is also associated with the Stuckist group of artists.
Mark D (real name Mark Randall)[1] was born and spent his childhood in Peterborough. He now lives in Nottingham. From university onwards, Mark D (D standing for "degenerate") played in various bands including the Fat Tulips, Confetti (when he was known as David), the Pleasure Heads (when he was known as Mark Randyhead), Oscar, Servalan and Sundress, and appeared on dozens of releases. He published and edited fanzines, including the underground C86 fanzine Two Pint Take Home. He is a co-owner of Heaven Records.[2]
The Fat Tulips were formed in 1987 and have been described as "incredibly skilled in the art of buzzing electric guitars, ferocious tempos, pristine pop melodies and lyrics that weren’t nearly as sweet as they sounded at first listen." [3]
A few years after the Fat Tulips broke up in the mid-1990s, he started a dealership in art and antiques with his wife, Tully, focusing on work from the 1960s and 1970s, including John Piper, Stig Lindberg, Lucienne Day and John Clappison.
An interest in the music of Billy Childish led onto Childish's paintings, which he acquired, and subsequently also the work of other artists in the Stuckist group. He contacted two artists who had been exhibited by the Stuckists, Stella Vine and Gina Bold, both of whom refused to sell him work, because of his connection with Childish. Vine responded with an email, which said, "Go fuck yourself".[2]
Frustrated at not being able to acquire that work for his collection and inspired by an Andy Warhol quote, "If you want to sell paintings you have to make paintings", Mark D began in May 2005 to make his own paintings, for which he had no formal training or qualifications ("my only qualification is a love of art"). His work makes visual and verbal comments on well-known figures in the art world, starting with Billy Childish, Tracey Emin, Stella Vine and Damien Hirst. He describes Emin as "without doubt a very talented artist whose work I greatly admire."[2] In response to the controversy over the Tate's purchase of its trustee Chris Ofili's work, The Upper Room, he painted a picture of the Tate Chairman, Paul Myners—who had defended the purchase—called The Hypocrisy of Myners. A reproduction of this work was featured on a placard outside the Turner Prize in December 2005 during a Stuckist demonstration against the purchase.
He sums up his artistic and musical philosophy with an obvious derivation from punk:
| “ | Some outstanding musicians have proved that all you need are 3 chords and a cheap guitar to come up with a classic. I find it much more interesting to listen to some low budget production record full of life and energy with lots of good ideas, (e.g. early Clash and Velvet Underground, The Vaselines, The White Stripes and, of course, Billy Childish with the Buff Medways etc.) than some over-produced bland pomp like Athlete, Coldplay or U2. | ” |
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Wiki article on the band Confetti Retrieved March 23, 2006
- ^ a b c Mark D page on Stuckism International site Retrieved March 23, 2006
- ^ Caught in Flux no. 7, 1998 Retrieved March 24, 2006
