The Making of
The Mognificent Seven by Julian Quaye
An Auntie
G publication
Copyright Julian Quaye August 2015 all rights to works remain with the artist.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed
Contents The making of the Mognificent Seven
The cats of the Mognificent Seven
The story of the Mognificent Seven
“90 percent of painting is half mental.� JQ
The Making of
The Mognificent Seven
The Making of the Mognificent Seven The first idea for the painting came to me as I was walking up a bloody big hill in Bradford-on-Avon back in March. This followed Dizzy (Paul Saunders) invitation to be part of Urban in Ibiza with this year’s Seven theme. I researched reference material from old wild west victorian photographs from the photographic studios of the time. These included a picture of Annie Oakley with the gun that Wild Bill Hickock gave her and Clyde Barrow (of Bonnie and Clyde). I wanted the background to appear like a theatrical backdrop from a photographic studio.
I stretched the canvas on ply - primed and colourwashed to build up the texture for the background.
Composition of characters from single drawings - drawn onto tracing paper then transferred to the canvas using chalk rubbed onto paper.
Picking out the flat tones
Adding in the statues - taken from the back of the Avon Gorge Hotel in Bristol
Drawn the text in Times Roman as if it is chiseled into the wall.
The drapery in the background is from a study I drew mirror imaged and repeated either side of the statues.
Added the foliage to add a bit of depth - which has then been knocked back with a colour wash over the top.
And then brought the foliage back out with highlights and lowlights.
I then started working on the clothing.
I wanted Flynny’s suit to stand out from the rest of the gang - based on a blue suit of mine - which I often wear with a red tie.
Again wanted Flotty’s clothing to stand out. Sadly Flotty’s clothes are not based on anything I possess, not indulging in any cross dressing on a weekend.
I wanted ‘off kilter’ cats which had character and that made me smile.
The cats of
The Mognificent Seven
Our two male members of the gang are come from Serbian cat charity Cat Shelter Jessica. Dodi is our senior member of the group and is our only cat looking for his forever home. On his Facebook page he says ‘I have been here a very long time and truthfully, I like my job but not so much the cats. There are just too many of them and their talking, winning, playing and chasing is sometimes too much for me (I am an old boy now)! I would like to spend my retirement with a human of my own.’
This characterful cross-eyed, tri-pod kitty who battled FIV, sadly passed away since the competition started. RIP Ćopa ("Limpy").
Bristol sisters Smeargol and Helium were entered by Kenneth - ‘They are ferocious and accurate hunters of frogs, pigeons and squirrels.’ It was a close run thing - sorry Helium.
Dusty, the first of our Stateside cats from Minnesota, was much loved feline of Raam family.
Professor Iggy hails from California where she lives with her friend Pan.
The successful candidates were selected from over 300 entries on a competition on Twitter and Facebook for ‘cats of character’. It was not an easy decision. Believe me after that you don’t want to look at any pictures of cats for a couple of weeks.
The story of
The Mognificent Seven
The story is based on a combination of the wild west, the first world war and the end of the great depression. They link to other characters in the story so far and future characters that I’m working on. I ran out of paper when I was on my travels, thinking about the story - so had to make notes on the next best thing.
More of my mad, slightly unhinged (and scaring people on the bus) note taking for my painting ‘The Mognificent Seven’.
The Kane Gang During the great war which decimated the Northern territories, many families found themselves displaced. One of those families was the Kane family, having seen their livelihood destroyed and their land illegally requisitioned by corrupt officials, they embarked on a life of bootlegging, hijacking, robbery and smuggling. They became folk heroes to those less fortunate, often dividing their spoils to the many desperate homesteaders they encountered on their way. Their exploits were avidly read and pawed over in the printed pamphlets, periodicals and listened to on the newly introduced electrical contraption ‘the voice within the box’ audiogram. After seven years (and an uneasy alliance with the many outlaw tortoise motorcycle
gangs), they had acquired a substantial fortune which, with an eye to the future, needed investing..... So.... with the help of the shady businessman and showman Duggie Burns, they headed off to the island of Eivassa to jump the counter to legitimacy. So here they are, now waiting to be captured on photographic plate, in front of a painted theatrical backdrop for one of their new ventures ‘Urbane Outfitters of Eivessa - for ladies and gentlemen of distinction’. The ‘ladies’ adopting the latest fashion of masculine dressing now prevalent within feral female feline circles. Flotty has no truck with this, adopting a more feminine look but with her trusty rifle at hand. As seven years as one of Albion’s most wanted makes one very twitchy and nervous. Old habits die hard.
Flotsima and Flynstance Kane sibling leaders of the infamous Kane Gang - The Mognificent Seven.
‘Eventually, I would love my work to become an animated film. In the meantime, I am working towards it becoming a series of illustrated story books. The illustrations are a mixture of mixed-media paintings and pen & ink drawings. At the moment, it is a story that doesn't have a beginning or end but it is emerging as I work on the pieces and the characters develop and form the story. It always starts with the painting.‘
Julian Alexander Quaye’s current works illustrate his love of ironic juxtaposition, and his interest in Victorian and Edwardian colours, with his series of human-form animal portraits. Within three months of exhibiting for the first time he was picked up to be included in a contemporary urban auction alongside Damian Hirst and Banksy by Dreweatts in summer 2012.
www.julianquaye.co.uk
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