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BRETT GOLDSTARInterview by Bianca Spada

Pictures by Brett Goldstar

Describe your art in 3 wordsIconic Pop Art.

Can you tell a little bit your self and your backgroundI come from a relatively creative background, my mother was an artist, my father a writer. As far back as I can remember I was always painting, drawing or making something out of what-ever I could lay my hands on.

I hated my art teacher at school and because of this I had zero interest in following a career in art. After leaving school I concentrated mainly on skateboarding, girls, music and very infrequently, A levels. In 1989 I got swept up in the second ‘Summer of Love’. A few years later, still very much involved in the scene, I moved to the South West of England and ended up living in a shared house with a very talented artist. She had spent the previous 18 months producing enormous, jaw drop-pingly great UV backdrops for the now legendary parties such as Energy, Sunrise and Biology. Via the vibrant South West Free Party scene I had befriended a guy who had been organising il-legal warehouse parties across the region. Off the back of their popularity he was approached to go to the ‘other side’ and help organise and front the first legal rave in the UK. By this time myself and my housemate had been let loose in two rooms of one of the main underground clubs in the area and had covered the walls with UV murals. Our style (think Keith Haring meets Gary Larson on acid) which was very different to the usual of-ferings (think Merlin riding a Unicorn over a Rainbow) in clubs of that genre at that time was widely acclaimed and off the back of that we were asked to produce all the backdrops for the big legal rave.

From that point we became very busy and were soon paint-ing full time, on the road every weekend across the country, installing our creations. This continued for about four years but the late nights and constant travelling pushed me into find-ing a more sustainable, less exhausting way to make a living. I’d been designing club flyers and magazine ads for promoters while I’d been painting and I already knew my way around pho-toshop etc. so easily slipped into my new vocation and contin-ued to do this for many years. The computer became my new creative vent and over the years I began to explore the realms of digital based art...which brings this story right up todate.

You are a self-trained as a mural artist, how has been your

journey in the art industry so far?Pretty good. Mauger Modern Art has given me amazing expo-sure over the past three years, showing my work in New York, Miami, Bangkok, Amsterdam and London...thankfully it seems to go down well.

Did you always want to be an artist?No, I wanted to be a milkman when I was a kid. Bob, our milk-man, my inspiration, was always really happy, he had an amaz-ing electric vehicle full of stuff I liked to drink and wore a cool uniform. Seemed to me like the perfect job.

Where do you go when you need inspiration?Mainly online but also everywhere I go I get flashes of inspira-tion, galleries especially...I love Tate Modern.

Your pieces are made up of smaller pictures, what is the rela-tion between the small pictures and the big picture?For my first series, ‘Intercontro’ I used directly opposing small images to make up the overall image. e.g ‘Johnny Be Good’ - Jack Nicholson’s manic, grinning face peering through the axed door made up of all the good people of the world. For the latest series ‘Idols’ the small images relate to the era surrounding the person featured in the main image. The era I choose is more relevant to my own personal experience of the ‘Idol’ featured, for instance ‘Maybe One Day I’ll Get The Right Flesh Colour’ a self portrait of Andy Warhol is comprised of 80’s iconography. Before the 80’s I didn’t have a clue who he was.

How did you choose the pictures you want to use? Mainly from memory although the Internet is a great tool for refreshing it. To gather all the images for one piece generally takes me about 4-5 days. The process, although enjoyable is surprisingly draining. Taking a trip down memory lane, 12 hours a day, 4 days on the trot is a complete shock to my brain. Duran Duran songs stuck on internal repeat, Rene and Renata, Eddie the Eagle and Roland Rat haunting me in my dreams. Takes a few days to rejoin the present.

How long does it take you to create one piece, Can you ex-plain the creative process?From the point I’ve collected all the constituent images and chosen the main image it usually takes a couple of days so in all roughly a week from start to finish. If I told you my process I’d have to kill you but besides my dog, photoshop is my best friend. A lot of stuff goes on in there.

Brett Goldstar self-trained as a mural artist during the first wave of acid house parties in the late 1980’s. Working for some of the larg-est event organisers in the north of Britain at the time, Goldstar’s unique artworks were seen by tens of thousands. After the thrust of free parties finally subsided Goldstar turned his skills to graphics, working freelance in London until moving to the South West of England, to pursue his artistic interests which had moved away from stenciling and towards experimentation with painting, sculpture and more recently, digital art. His latest series brings images together that appear to contra-dict or oppose in the first instance, his work ultimately points at a stream of darker con-nections, questions and similarities.

What pieces have caused the most attention and why?Most recently ‘I Love Plastic’ based around the clas-sic Warhol portrait of Marilyn Monroe. At a recent art fair the reception by the public was phenomenal. Two thirds of the edition sold out over five days.Why? With over 480 iconic images from the 1980’s I think a large percentage of people who took a deeper look at the piece were connected with it in some way. Some so much they decided to bring it into their lives. It’s obviously great when that hap-pens.

If you weren’t an artist what do you think you would be doing?Delivering Milk.

What has been your greatest achivement?Bringing up my dog to be an amazing, considerate and thoughtful human being.

What message would you like to leave the world through your art?Look deeper and all will be revealed.

‘Johnny Be Good’ - Edition of 35. 68 x 60cm ‘I’d Never Win Painting Contests’ - Edition of 25. 96 x 74cm

Where do you see/would like to see yourself in 10 years?10 years more established than I am now. To be honest I find it difficult to predict where I’ll be next week.

What can we expect from you next?Good question, I’m still working on my current series but past that perhaps larger versions of my previ-ous works on canvas....and I’m talking big. You’ll be the first to know when it happens....apart from my Mum.

What advice would you give young emerging art-ist?Develop your style, stick with it, refine it even more, produce decent body of coherent work and don’t approach a gallery until that point.

How do you imagine the future?A lot more silvery.

Who is/are your IDOL/s?My Mum. Standard.

‘I’d Never Win Painting Contests’ - Edition of 25. 96 x 74cm ‘It’s What’s Inside That Counts too’ - Edition of 25. 66 x 50cm