Striped with blood and emblazed tattoo...
The January 2001 issue of 'Dazed & Confused' caught my eye this month for a cover feature on the ultimate manufactured band, Gorillaz. Worth the cover price alone for the free CD ROM of the band's brilliant video for 'Tomorrow Comes Today'. Gorillaz are the new badly-drawn boys in town, fronted by heart-throb singer 2D, that's him on the right above. Actually they're drawn really rather well, and one of 'em is a girl! But, there are those that have suggested that some persons from the very horrid real world are actually behind the project, including 2D, whose rather successful UK real-world band has a co-writer credit with Bowie/Eno. Whatever, with all this extra-curricular activity his life must be a Blur right now!
Anyway, I digress, leafing through the magazine I chanced upon a rather stylish full-page advert that struck me as a bit of a rip-off of one of the recent BowieArt splash pages. In fact it wasn't just a rip-off, it actually was an advert for Bowieart! Simply emblazoned with the legend: 'FRESH BLOOD' across the middle of the landscape, the only other text on the ad is the suggestion: BOWIEART.COM and photographer Jeremy Coysten's credit. This enigmatic advert is the latest push to publicise the wealth of new talent on BowieArt, even if it does seem exclusively worded for Lee Wagstaff!
A piece about the re-launch of the site on benzedrinerecords.com reports how Bowie is managing to agitate the art world yet again after his successful Nate Tate wind up: "In what is sure to become considered a revolutionary and confrontational move in art world circles, Bowieart takes absolutely no commission from any sales made through its site. The usual practice among galleries is to deduct as much as 50% from the artist's purse on any sale of an artwork." Great stuff, go check out the new blood over at the 'Never Mind The Bollocks' of the art world that is BowieArt now!
Total Blam Blam (European Correspondent)