Across The Tracks and Through The Looking Glass

 I did all the artwork for Arcadia, one of the highlights of Glastonbury 2010, the Festival’s 40th Birthday, the hottest on record and some say the best yet…

 

For two weeks we relished the bliss of perfect English midsummer in the most mystical part of the country, Glastonbury, where ley lines meet and legends were born, in The Vale of Avalon, the ancient mythic gateway to the heathen goddess; a place of pilgrimage for millennia.

I was onsite with the team of militant revolutionary dreamers and genius engineers known as Arcadia, easily the best sound system around and quite possibly the greatest show on earth.

Their meticulous attention to detail and fantastic organisation extends to the busy site canteen who kept me fed and watered with an ever-changing array of fresh veggie delights and herbal teas….

I painted anarcho punk slogans since 82 then graffiti at the birth of UK hip hop in 84, onto London’s tube system in 86 through the golden age of train graffiti moving to acid house backdrops in 89. The nineties and new millenium saw me painting at traveller squat parties and Reclaim the Streets protest raves. Throughout the quiet renaissance of classical, surreal and visionary oil painting I was at the easel and fused my skills back with graffiti in Shoreditch in 2009 then onto MuTate Britain with the Mutoid Waste Company in Ladbroke Grove under the Westway…

Now in 2010 I feel glad to have played a small part by painting for the next underground zeitgeist, one which takes influence and energy from all those phenomenon and more, but boldly maps out a new frontier that is purely its’ own…ARCADIA.

Like all underground revolutionary movements the gold rush is for the inner treasure. The ultimate reward is the accomplishment of the dream and the actualisation of the idea. At Glastonbury 2010 Arcadia surpassed all expectations and reached dizzying new heights of inspiration, engineering, teamwork, sculpture, music, lighting, pyrotechnics, performance art and energy as this film shows….

 

The Build

 

 

When we arrived onsite the Afterburner stage was still in its early stages, the ‘legs’ of the spider are actually scrap from customs xray machines that used to scan containers and lorries. Pure genius…

The core of the beast is expertly manoevered into place…

…and it shows its’ face.

In keeping with Arcadia’s militant branding and apocalyptic atmosphere I did the line-up board using their trademark stencil lettering, and carefully distressed the fragments of plane for that ‘hauled out of the swamp 5 years after the crash’ look….

 

…with lots of help from capable hands.

The entrance arch is a couple of modified plane wings, possibly from a glider, it’d been rubbed down to the bare aluminium so to keep the burnished metal intact on the ‘pipes’ I used Belton’s amazing transparent black spray paint to get the relief modelling without losing the wonderful texture which gleamed from underneath as the sun caught the metal…The design was finalised between myself and Pip Rush and based on carvings on an ancient Aztec  temple….

 

Here’s a video of the build in progress.

 

The line-up boards go up….

I then cut back over the black with Belton’s burner chrome to get a contrast against the aluminium and carefully painted the pop rivets and ‘crazy paving’ seams by hand.

 

Pip was keen to use my ‘Circuit Splat’ style so I modified it to pure abstraction with a vivid tribal background on some pieces of aeroplane scrap to hang behind the massive ‘Arc Bar’, the sun was pounding down…

 

After painting ‘til twilight the lights go on on the new Afterburner for the very first time and the eerie entity blinks into life.

Next day the crew finish building ‘stage left’ so I can start the piece.

 

Across the field the punk tent takes shape

After being branded with the Arcadia logo by their prop maker and effects guy, Simon, he begins work on the dirty-metal-effect background for my piece….

…and I start blocking in the arrows. Some respectful inspiration drawn from amigo Keen One here, but in 3 dimensions and distressed with a strong Elate/Arcadia twist….

 

….and lots of rivets, seams, gleams, glints and the Arcadia logo in the centre….

….everyone seemed to really like this.

 

Here the graffiti began to fuse with scrap art by Simon and Sam…

 

Finally after sweat and dedication, blisters, sprains and minor sunstroke Arcadia opened on Thursday 24th June 2010 to the public ….

  …who went nuts….while many crew take the opportunity to sleep until rested before re-emerging to enjoy the weekend.

My art at the Arcadia Arc Bar ‘scuse the poor shots

 

You could feel the heat on your face from the other side of the field. Experience Arcadia, they’re doing amazing things.

 

I’ll let the Lords of Lightning sign off this post as only they know how.

All pictures of Arcadia build by me and Jenny apart from a few select shots of Afterburner show and Glastonbury used  with permission Creative Commons and taken by Luke Blackmore, lusciousblopster, mark-vauxhall, medalliamagpie, Tangentical, fussy onion, Al Green midlander123 and bfirsh; thanks to all.

Massive thanks to Pip and Bertie and all Arcadia crew.

To See Exclusive Shots of Arcadia Glastonbury 2010 Build and Official Arcadia Videos Click Here To See My Post-Festival Blog Entry!

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 The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, is the largest open-air music and performing arts festival in the world.

The main attraction for many revellers for the last few years has been one of the smaller, more underground arenas known as Arcadia.

 

                                                                                                                                                 

Arcadia is a synchronised pyrotechnic stage and lightshow sculpture arena featuring world class bands and deejays and illuminated by lasers, intelligent lighting, water jets and flamethrowers and is built from military and NASA scrap, primarily jet engine components.

Deejays and bands play live surrounded by what must be the most incredible spectacle of light, smoke and flame on the planet, as tens of thousands of people dance in an ecstasy of ritual theatrics and shamanic pyrotechnics.

Think Heironymous Bosch meets Mad Max versus ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ and you’re getting somewhere.

     

 

I was delighted to find out that my painting is thought of so highly by the visionary behind Arcadia, Pip Rush, that I have been asked to design and paint all artwork for the entire Arcadia arena at this years Glastonbury, 2010; the festival’s 40th Birthday.

Pip’s the younger brother of Joe Rush,  founder of the Mutoid Waste Company and has spent much of his life since a baby in the delirium of Joe’s events;  we share many similar inspirations and themes in our work.

  The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter- A Painting by Me…..

…and some Graffiti by me…..

We put our heads together and have been bouncing ideas backwards and forwards so expect  something a bit special.

Year by year Arcadia Spectacular have expanded at Glastonbury, starting off in ‘Trash City’ in 2008 with the Mutoid Waste Company. It was so successful that they were given their own field in 2009, this was in turn so successful that  this year, 2010; to quote organiser Micheal Eavis…

"We’re giving over an extra 15 acres to Arcadia …..because the feedback we got on that area was fantastic.”

As a result the Arcadia crew are ramping up the spectacular even further, featuring a new top secret ‘Afterburner’, the main stage structure, which  takes the whole show to the next level.

Mutating daredevils on highwires and trapezes will do battle with actual lightning bolts, pyrotechnics and flamethrowers high above the arena in a mid air extravaganza of cosmic significance and electric delight that will bring the ‘invisible world’ into living focus before your very eyes and ears.

I will be doing my best to provide this sensory feast with an incredible surround of amazing art that will help Arcadia to transport minds to places and times far from this dimension.

Thanks to the guys at Chrome and Black paint shop in Shoreditch, East London, yet again, for looking after us so well….

                  

                      Arcadia Stage Line Up Glastonbury 2010

                     Weds 23rd-Sun 27th June 2010

 

Arcadia photos Creative Commons many thanks to Luke Robinson  theadz01 and Russ Garrett