In Conversation With… Mark Warrington
Mark Warrington is a hugely talented UK based artist, who has painted many figurative pieces, including the artwork on the iconic Claremont 56 record sleeves. He kindly agreed to chat to us about art, music and his many projects.
El Puto Guiri: Hello Mark, what have you been up to?
MW: I’ve just recently finished a project for Big Zuu’s 12 Dishes show on ITV. He goes to a different European city every episode with a celeb guest and they try 12 different dishes. I had to illustrate each plate of food which totalled 72 illustrations across the series. It was so much work to get through but doing one thing for so long does improve your practice whether it then translates into more commercial or personal work. One of the episodes was down the coast from you in Valencia.
EPG: We’re heading there in August for a gig!
MW: Drawing those dishes really made me want to go there, nice simple food. Now I know what I'm getting when ordering some horchata con fartons or a slice of Coca de llanda con chocolate y naranja.
I was averaging 2 illustrations a day which got me thinking about the future of this kind of work, when a TV producer might instead choose to use an AI specialist to type a few text prompts so the software makes it in hours rather than me taking 2 months. I don’t think it’d look quite the same as human made work, and the level of control to create a specific image would be reduced, but would that matter if it cost half the amount? In my opinion, at the moment it’s still too uncontrollable and has a specific hyperreal look and surreal feel. This does look good in it’s own right but in the future it’ll be a problem for me as it becomes more user friendly. As a writer I’m sure you feel the same, but I think it’s easy to spot..
EPG: Yeah.. the kind of AI that made me redundant last year!
MW: For marketing copywriting it’s more successful as that style of writing is so formulaic… ‘taking you on a life journey’ etc. With creative writing I think the threat is less, it surely can’t ever grasp the subtleties of human observation, emotional experience and regional humour which makes reading so enjoyable.
EPG: We first met years ago on music forums and at parties around London. For me that era feels increasingly hazy now. I do still miss the parks!
MW: I moved from Macclesfield to London in 2002 and located to Brixton. I used to go to Brockwell Park back then and the Lido on a hot day was just like a Martin Parr photo. And also down at Stockwell skatepark nearly every evening. London parks, summer and good times all go hand in hand, I loved that aspect of the city.
I was actually introduced to the DJ History music forum (and associated Lowlife parties) in the middle of the Hudson River on a Danny Krivit boat party. I think in 2005 I met our mutual friend and Lowlife regular Rohan. He told me if I’m into this I should check out Lowlife. He was right, we ended up going to most of them in the following years and gradually got to know lots of the regulars.
EPG: Didn’t you call yourself Goldstitch at the time? Was that an alter ego?
MW: I took my handle from Goldstitch Moss, a beautiful moor not far from me in the Peak District. Along its crest, known as the roaches, the rocky outcrops and boulders have been moulded into strange forms from millions of years of sideways northern rain. I sometimes reference these in my paintings.
EPG: I remember a gig we went to 15 years ago at sadly defunct venue Cargo, featuring Arpadys, a French 70s funk/disco act hauled out of obscurity for the evening.
MW: I didn’t know Cargo was gone! At that time I’d never seen or heard anything like Arpadys, properly skilled live musicians playing true cosmic disco. Their track ‘Funky Bass’ is one of those that could happily go on and on. I didn’t really know many of the people from the DJH forum but a lot of the members must have been there, there was a real buzz about it. Other memorable live gigs I saw there were Tortured Soul, Glass Candy and Femi Kuti. Also nice summer evenings drinking with friends in the garden to the side.
There was also the Black Rat Press gallery in the very end arch of Cargo’s garden alley with the Banksy ‘designated graffiti area’ piece wall. There was always fresh art to be seen inside and out. It was often private views on a Thursday where free beers were always available to encourage sales to a busy after work crowd. It was a social for artists and lots of connections were made. There was always something opening at one of the galleries such as Pictures on Walls, Stolen Space or Lazarides in Soho and I was fully immersed in it all. I did end up buying lots of prints over the years, so well played by the galleries I suppose.
EPG: I also remember a wild week at Folk Ibiza nearly 15 years ago, when we booked to go on a phantom pirate ship with some Mancunians. For readers unfamiliar with that story, how would you sum it up? Or did I imagine it all?
MW: When we received two torn strips of t-shirt (wristbands) and a loose itinerary in the post we were wondering what was in store..
EPG: A total shambles, haha..
MW: It was chaotic and DIY but at the same time everything about it was perfect. An all-star lineup of DJs (in my view) spread across different beach locations across the island each day. From memory there was Mudd, Jan Hammered, Coyote, Balearic Mike, Kelvin Andrews, the Idjut Boys. At Cala Gracioneta we listened to Jan, Mike and Mudd play right next to the beach. As sunset approached the party carried the soundsystem up the hill to the next venue for the evening party. There was an impromptu performance by one of the Gypsy Kings..
EPG: Gipsy Moreno!
MW: He had a weekly slot there on that night, so our party was put on hold for his set. It was quite fitting so all was good. I guess he had a much bigger and different crowd than usual with all of the Folk crowd there.
EPG: Is that how your involvement with Claremont 56 originally came about? A label I hugely admire. Consistently beautiful music. You probably get asked this a lot but how do you approach the sleeve art?
MW: I’d known Mudd and his friend / DJ partner Andy Allday for a while as I used to always go to their ‘keep it carpet’ nights at the Red Lion in Angel (London). When we were at the Sunset Ashram in Ibiza on part of the Folk tour, I showed him a few of my pieces. When we got back to the UK he invited me to create some artwork for the Mountaineer CD. It features a figure which is quite different from anything I have done for C56 since. Next it was the first Almunia LP, which I think was one of the paintings I originally showed Mudd. We pursued this direction for everything that followed.
EPG: What other projects have you been working on?
MW: I’ve recently finished a painting for the Claremont Editions series.
I was on it for months but really enjoyed making it. Half way through I realised I needed to start using glasses. It was like having a new pair of eyes so I became more enthusiastic about fine details. I'm a keen gardener, indoor and out. My interest in plants and their many forms gives me a good base to make these kinds of paintings. I’m also enjoying pencil sketching on A4 sheets, abstract forms which don’t really have any place yet but I plan to turn them into a series of paintings in the future. I do love working in natural light but I tend to paint in the evenings as it’s quieter, it’s the best way to listen to lots of music and get away from screens.
For the bulk of my work I have a studio in an old silk mill in Macclesfield where I'm now based again. I’ve also been the main artist and animator on Channel 4’s 8 out of 10 cats does countdown since 2016. Most noteworthy were my illustrations for Sean Lock’s ‘The Tiger that came for a pint’ which featured on the show and have had millions of views on YouTube.
I’ve given up asking people to stop bootlegging it - it’s all over Etsy with people illegitimately selling my work using pixelated screen grabs from TV. Leeches. It’d be good to release it full resolution to raise money for cancer research, which was what cruelly took him away from us. I’m not sure what the estate of Judith Kerr would have to say though.
EPG: I remember we met up in Barcelona when you were here and had a few drinks at the Switch Pocket Club in Gracia. What were your thoughts on the city in terms of the design, exhibitions etc?
MW: I first visited Barcelona in the mid 90s with my parents. They took me to see the Picasso museum and the Miró gallery up on the hill so I've always associated the city with these artists and been inspired. I also enjoyed being able to go record shopping at 11pm. When Em [Mark’s wife] and I came a few years back it was my 40th and a short break away for us from being new parents. In that respect you could have taken me anywhere really, but that first place [Cueva de Lobos] was really cosy and felt well off the tourist trail. I think we may have been in the wrong place for a catch up during the acoustic guitar performance. Switch Pocket was a nice little club too.
EPG: If any Spanish readers were to visit your part of NW England, where would you recommend they go for art, music, culture?
MW: I was spoiled in London for my art and culture fix and never took it for granted. Manchester is close so when I go there I visit the Manchester Art Gallery and get absorbed in the Pre-Raphaelite paintings which are on permanent view there. Also the Whitworth Gallery which is a typical grand Mancunian red brick building, now with stunning, angular modernist additions at the back jutting out into Whitworth Park, which is a bit edgy in itself. I’m on a clubbing break, having 2 young boys, but I’d go to The White Hotel and also Hidden Club in Manchester, where they seem to be doing things right.
EPG: What are you listening to right now? Has any good/criminally neglected music caught your ear we might not know about?
MW: You know this changes daily but today: Colours of Silence by Wally Badarou. I tend to keep it mellow in the studio. While painting last night I was really digging the Ramzi – Hyphea LP which reminded me of records Rob Bright played early doors at Bugged Out at Sankeys in the 90s.
EPG: It feels to me like 'The Scene' as it was, has fragmented as people dispersed and other priorities took over. Do you think there still is a 'scene' or is it just very occasional summer reunions now?
MW: I think the scene has always lived on the internet, geeking over old mixes etc so that lives on. Occasional parties are becoming ever more so, but I thought that was just me. If it is fragmented, then sites such as TestPressing and El Puto Guiri keep those bonds in place.
*You can find out more about Mark’s art on his site and Instagram page.