Happily Never After by Mark Davies The Acorn Gallery

Available as a fantastic Limited Edition Print.

All Artwork is signed by the artist and includes a Certificate of Authenticity.  

MARK SAYS: 

Following on from my debut collection ‘Matryoshka’ in 2014, it was my ‘Storyteller’ works that started gaining traction and an appreciation for how my mind works. I was intrigued by the contrast between what we were read as children and what the original versions of each story involved. It was shocking! The Brothers Grimm, I salute you, you dark, twisted fucks! A big shout out to Mr Hans Christian Andersen too, you absolute rotter!

So, this is where it really started, the fascination for how darkness resides in such proximity to light and how the lines are blurred in the middle. I was not in a good place at all back then and I guess this is what resonated so strongly, that contrast between making out that all is good and light, yet the reality was much, much darker, despairingly grimm.   

Looking back to my artwork in education, some of that was twisted too yet I had a stable and wonderful upbringing, interesting! As a naive professional artist starting out, I found it mind-blowing that someone could find such an affiliation to my thoughts laid out in print. My first chapter involved incredibly surreal works such as ‘Say My Name Bitch’, ‘Toile and Trouble’, ‘High Ho’ and ‘Policeman and Pirates’ and I was so proud of the results. The originals were my real opportunity to truly express myself creatively despite lacking so much confidence, the prints did well but it was the number of commissions that came from the first couple of chapters that blew my mind.  

It was clear in 2016 when I launched ‘Lost in Hollywood’ – a bold collection of my interpretations of iconic movies, that this subject matter had a much bigger appeal and ultimately saw a higher demand for prints. ‘Storyteller’ risked becoming a dirty word as was deemed more niche, yet it was where my heart was. I needed it, it was where I shouted the loudest through my work. A key factor was that these pieces didn’t feature characters, it was left to the details that were hidden or woven into the scene to tell my story and give you an insight into the multi layered narratives that drove each piece. It allowed me to be so surreal, random, clever, and true. It allowed me to be me.  

Since choosing to become an independent artist back in 2018 to work without restrictions, it immediately proved to be a brilliant decision and things quickly grew. My very first piece that I released was a classic ‘Storyteller’ piece entitled ‘Rumposilshkin’ – it was dark, twisted and so authentic. I wanted to make it clear that despite the successes of other subjects deemed more commercial that I was going to remain true to why I create art in the first place.  

So, ten years into my art career and ‘Decadence’ has given me the perfect opportunity to work in that way and create my latest ‘Storyteller’ piece to hopefully show my wonderful and loyal collectors that there are so many more chapters left to write and to demonstrate how I have grown and evolved as an artist from a technical perspective and on production level also. Are you sitting comfortably? I present to you ‘Happily Never After – a striking image that is crammed full of detail, clues, hidden meaning, and references to Chapter One. Let’s begin…  

What I have done is to depict an abandoned theme park that has fallen into a state of disrepair through lack of use. There are so many links, big and small, to my earlier works, so many crazy references for you to seek out. Remember as a kid when you walked up to the entrance and you caught sight of the big rides in the distance, it was so exciting. For me, it was the ‘Meli’ park in De Panne – Belgium that captivated me and my imagination. I still seek out photos and videos online where possible – it seems like a different world back then. Smoutebollen changed my life!    

The reason that the Kingdom of Happily Never After has fallen into this sorry state is down to a new age – the digital age. It is the acknowledgement of a transition from children needing and wanting to use their imagination to truly play and pretend through to everything being on tap so to speak, available at the click of a button. When you think back to being a kid and the roleplay and the freedom to really play without any restrictions, without any genuine danger, what came from that was beautiful. So, there are references to this movement within the scene, mainly through the wardrobe that offers visits to Narnia from £149 per person for twenty minutes. Stripping out all that is magical and making it all about money, greed breeds monsters.  

I am proud of every piece that I create for many different reasons, this piece really is everything to me. I love it! I was so completely immersed from start to finish and it was hard to stop and acknowledge that it was done, I probably could have stopped a day before and it would have looked superb, but I would have known that it could have gone further. So, what do you lot think? I hope that this gives you so much enjoyment seeking out and interpreting all the references and links to past chapters. Speaking of chapters, another one has opened and so many more are yet to be written. What is so incredible is that this incredible platform that I have to talk through my art has become a solid career, pure hard graft and a brilliant set up ensures that there will be no ending, but we will all live happily ever after.  

To everyone who has bought a ‘Storyteller’ piece, thank you. I absolutely bloody love you! X