Inspired and at the behest of a recent facebook post by my talented daughter-Emma-above is a stack of current obsessions feeding the artistic alchemy.
By virtue of abundance, it's not quite as diverse or impressive as Bowie's top 100 list of books, which appeared this week and which I was happy to note does include one of the tomes on my own current pile.
Depending on the canvas consuming me at the time, the list is generally interchangeable of course, and most of the books are digested purely for invocation, but as latitude and longitute into the geography of the new series, it's a pretty good GPS.
The list from top left is as follows:
Salvador Dali-50 Secrets of Magic Craftsmanship
Valazquez, the technique of genius by Jonathan Brown and Carmen Garrido
The Encyclopedia of Mythology by Arthur Cotterell
The PreRaphaelites by Trewin Copplestone
The Divine Comedy with Illustrations by Gustav Dore (translation by Henry W. Longfellow)
The complete works of Shakespeare
Images of Horror and Fantasy by Gert Schiff
Creepy presents Richard Corben-the definitive collection of the artist's work from Creepy and Eerie!
On Ugliness by Umberto Eco
Art of the Late Middle Ages by Hans H. Hofstatter
Van Gogh a self-portrait. Letters revealing his life as a painter selected by W.H.Auden
The Devil-the Archfiend in Art from the sixth to the sixteenth century by Luther Link
The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte
Purgatorio by Dante Alighieri
The Secret Temple-Masons, Mysteries and the founding of America by Peter Levenda
Portrait of the Artist as ab young man and the Dubliners by James Joyce
Like you've never been away by Paul Trevor
Whilst it may seem on the face of it, that I have disappeared into some b(l)ackwater close-but-no-cigar reclusive hole, for retired artists these past few months, I have in fact been sequestered away, burning the candle on forthcoming projects.
A continued turn of bad licensing deals, prevarications and basic bullshit, brought to a head the long held notion, that-well- I'm a big boy now, and nobody has my interests at heart better than myself, so I've taken a bold-and some would say, long overdue- foot forward, and my first book- 'Gods and Monsters'-the art phantastique of David Gough-is the result.
Published through my own Darq Matter imprint, for the moment, these will only be available through my website, and at public events,but if anyone knows of any distributors out there, who might be interested in displaying my little tome, then let me know.
My art will also be appearing in a number of other publications-which include one or two coffee table anthologies as well as the featured cover for Peter Carolls continued spiritual quest-in'The Apophenion'-now available from Amazon.
Start filling your holiday shopping lists now.
Talking of which, my biggest commitment at the moment, is art and writing duties on my total reinterpretation of Dickens Xmas Carol.
At the time of writing, I'm still fleshing out the pages and putting painterly meat on the bones of yuletide's most infamous curmudgeon, but I am delighting in my twisted translation.
As if that isn't enough to keep me reaching for the Caffeine drip, I have several shows planned, as well as another exhibit at Basic on October 14th, where I will be showcasing-time willing- at least four or five new pieces. Check out my appearances page for more details. Of course, I'll keep any new developments updated here and in the news section, so thanks for staying with us during what might have seemed a fallow period.
