Mark Davies, Lost in Hollywood II April 18, 2019 – Posted in: Blog Articles
Mark Davies
April 2019:
Lost in Hollywood II is the latest collection by artist Mark Davies.
Mark says about this collection:
“My memories as a kid growing up in the 80’s are of an array of incredible films that stayed with me and truly captured my imagination. As a father of a thirteen year old daughter I am so aware of just what a different world it was back then, no internet, no social media, no distractions. From what I can see I sense that the pull of going to watch a film now may not be so strong, what with so much leaked content all over the internet and the role that Sky TV now plays. The urgency now to check one’s mobile without being seen equals that of legging it to the toilet when the credits start after drinking 10 litres of Um Bungo!
Back then whether it was a birthday treat to the cinema or a trip to the local video store, when it came to sitting there with my family it was a great experience. You were completely immersed from start to finish, no snapchat, just chit chat. It was proper, undiluted family time and I cherish that even more so now.
With the pressures that exist for me personally where there is so much frustration and hurt I have found myself more and more choosing to look back towards these memories, to seek comfort and draw energy from them to help me focus. As I’m sure you are aware, so much of my artworks are incredibly dark and complex with each piece being a response to an experience or emotion. However, you can easily become consumed by darkness and this year is all about looking towards the light. Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadows.
The reaction to my first ‘Lost in Hollywood’ collection back in 2016 was really something and I have drawn inspiration and confidence from this, especially when meeting people at shows and seeing their reaction to the nostalgic scene in front of them.
Nostalgia is tapped into by so many and why not, it makes everyone feel great. My intention is just to do things differently, to truly fuel the imagination and for everyone to take on the role of film director, to seek out and gather up all of the details that I have positioned within each piece and then to play out their own scene.
‘Lost in Hollywood 2’ is the keenly awaited sequel for 2019, it has taken an absolute age to plan and an absolute joy to work on!
I have wanted to release this body of work for so long but it was all about timing, I have known which films I needed to take on for so long and to see a scrawled notepad evolve into this completed body of work is really quite something. I have loved every single minute of it, I have pushed myself and sought to continue to evolve whilst ensuring that I stay true. From immersing myself into each of these films I ultimately feel better, brighter and I hope many others get the same feeling from seeing my interpretations of these iconic movie masterpieces. What an era, what a childhood.”
Shown is ‘Outahere……. Back to the Future’. See the whole collection here.
