Making a Mark with Ralph Steadman
I recently got this picture back from the framers and I thought I would share it with everyone. It’s a portrait of me by the one and only Ralph Steadman, who has been my creative partner over the last 12 years or so and has become a close friend who makes me laugh like no other. We have written three books together, Extinct Boids, Nextinction and Critical Critters, which have formed The Gonzovation Trilogy. These books highlight the danger of extinction faced by so many species in the world today. But how did our relationship come into being?
Well, these books and our friendship grew out of one request to an artist I did not personally know but who had always been one of my favourite artists throughout my life. In fact, at school for my O-level art exam I had to design a cover for a famous book and I chose Alice in Wonderland and totally copied Ralph’s interpretation of the character. He never came after me for copyright infringement but who knows now having written about it here! I think I would avoid any judgement against me as it was a pretty poor attempt. I think I still have it somewhere, but I digress!
So, how exactly did we get together? Well, it’s simple. I approached Ralph to draw one extinct species of bird for an exhibition I was organizing to show the danger of extinction so many birds in the world face today. A friend gave me Ralph’s email and said write to him and when you have just about given up hope then something wonderful may drop in your inbox. Sure enough, after two months I got a reply, which stated, “I don’t know what you want from me, but I’m intrigued! We must talk!” And with that my phone rang and it was Ralph, who didn’t introduce himself to me and proceeded to read me a story of his for the next fifteen minutes. I lay back on my couch in wondrous disbelief as one of my favourite artists had just entered my life, not realising just what a journey we would go on together!
And here we are today and Ralph has dug out some rare posters from his drawers of art and signed them all and sent them to us and they are available exclusively on HeadVision.
Just click on each image to go to the page to see details and pricing.
