Artist 78: Bruce Parker

Just as we said, we are still going to serve you the very best in up and coming art and artists, and we have a great fresh talent now for you. From the iconic city of Newcastle, Bruce Parker gives us a rich visual assault. Brucey's work comes in fast and full on with pure street mixed with clever composition and some true penmanship. It's easy to lose the focus with this kind of street style but when you have all of these elements combining you get a truly awe inspiring montage, that draws influence form graffiti, tattoo and skate culture with a touch of euphoria and psilocybin adding to the heady mix. Brucey's work has a lot of character and you feel like you almost need it to be present on stickers in the club and on the walls. Its part of a growing culture with it's own expression and freedom and Brucey manages to can that youth and edge, forcing all the delirium, ecstasy and tension of a mad night out and feeding it straight back at you. Whether his work sparks personal memories, brings the street to your door or reminds you to get back in contact with the lads from back in the day, it's evocative and mesmerising. Clearly some of the best examples of the scene Brucey distils this time, and this place, and for that we are truly grateful.

Who are you:
I’m Bruce Parker aka Brucey, a 22-year-old Artist from Newcastle, England.

What do you do:
I create vectoresque, character based artwork primarily using paint markers.

How did you start:
I have always loved to draw since as long as I can remember and while studying Animation and Illustration at college I discovered “Lowbrow Art” and this became the perfect way for me to utilize my skills.

A Personal statement about you or your work:
My artwork tends to focus on characters that are trapped in a sea of familiar patterns, icons and objects. This creates an almost psychologists ink blot effect as it leads people to pick out the items that are most appropriate to them within each picture. The objects that appear in each piece are chosen either to follow a theme for that particular picture, or I add objects for the purpose of symbolism and metaphor.

American artists such as Greg Simkins, Attaboy and Joe Ledbetter are a big influence on my work, and I also take a lot of inspiration from cult and classic movies.

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Artist 46: Mark Goss

Going Down The Road Feeling Bad from mark goss on Vimeo.

Mark Goss is our next feature. Illustrator at large, Mark is a great ambassador for illustration. He takes it to the people and what could be better publicity for illustration than the bold captivating work of Mark Goss. His work takes me to a culture I love and understand but he does it with true style and grit. His work is considered, fresh and captures that great cultural border of graffiti, skate and tattoo art that brings so many together and translates globally. His work is not just about bold colour and raw creativity there is also skill and  intelligence behind it. As Mark says, he wants people to interpret his work without guidance and to this end he gives us some great helping hands but the rest is up to us. That's a lesson worth learning for everyone, Illustration is about giving, giving to the viewer, the client or the world. Whether you're up on a flier for a day a wall for an evening or a yearbook you change perceptions and broaden horizons. Whilst I may not be able to go back to my days of skate, house parties and live music Mark gives me the chance to live vicariously through his work, without the dislocated hips and frozen fingers. Great work which allows you to think, read about him here. 


Who are you:
Hello, my name is Mark Goss and I am an illustrator and designer currently based in Antwerp, Belgium.

What do you do:
The main constant in my work is drawing, I try not to limit myself when it comes to the canvas; it might be anything from a large outdoor wall, a van or even a body, but almost always the work is based in lined drawings. My personal work; inspired a lot by traditional western tattooing, a touch of skate style graphics and some other various influences, is informed by my daily experiences and I try as often as possible to use primary sources of reference to create images, where possible I try to include this personal sense in professional briefs as well.

How did you start:
I have always drawn and painted but when I was just about to go into my last year of school I decided that a typical academic route wasn't for me, so I left before A Levels to study fine art at college. Throughout college I made a lot of typographic work so it was recommended for me to do graphic design and I then found myself studying it at university, although it probably wasn't the best route for me it made art more appealing and interesting as it was all on my own terms. I decided that illustration was the profession to pursue so after finishing my degree I kind of left graphic design by the way side and have been trying my hand at illustration and art, although I do some graphic design work from time to time.

A Personal statement about you or your work:
I always struggle with an answer when people ask what kind of work I do and what it is about. When I look at other artists I try to find my own way of understanding their work and I think that's how I would like people to see my work, to just take from it what you see however complex or simple their idea might be.

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