Mr T, Marty McFly, John Rambo, Dr Who wearing a long striped scarf – if your heart flips with nostalgia at those names, you’ll love Craig Davison’s latest collection.
Davison Gold will feature his trademark style of children enacting scenes involving their favourite characters with the shadow of the character behind them and will focus on characters from popular TV series Dr Who and The A-Team, and from major 80s movies Back to the Future and Rambo.
Craig says: “Until now, my art has all been about my childhood – but I’m a bit too old for these characters, so now it’s about other people’s! I’ve been asked to paint characters from the 80s many times – well, here they are.
“I can never really say much about my work as it’s all in the painting – if someone gets something from my work, then I’ve done my job!”
Previous collections by Craig have featured superheroes, pop stars and characters from Star Wars; last year, one of the franchise’s original team, actor Mark Hamill, tweeted to his three million-plus followers, with the hashtag #TheWonderOfChildhood: “I LOVE Craig Davison. In my 5-year-old mind’s eye that dishtowel around my neck made me look exactly like Superman!”
In addition to the original oils of each piece in the collection, there will be a very limited boutique edition of certain pieces and the original pencil sketches. Anyone ordering one of the editions or an original will also receive a complimentary limited edition print.
Born in Sheffield in 1965, Craig Davison was a cartoonist in the 1980s, working on pre-school comics, and drawing characters including The Shoe People, The Wombles, Huxley Pig and Bangers and Mash.
He then worked at a computer games company as an animator and designer, working on many games including Zorro, The Hulk and The Hurricanes, as well as the game concept and characters for Johnny Bazookatone. He also began sculpting reference figures for 3D animation, which led to his becoming a freelance sculptor of animals and action figures for ranges such as Me To You, Enchantica, Harry Potter and Doctor Who.
In 2007 he entered an art competition and finished in the final three, which launched his career as an artist.
Craig will introduce Davison Gold at the gallery during a personal appearance from 6pm to 9pm on Saturday 6 July.