MARK GONZALes - Izrock

MARCUs OAKLeY
Marcus Oakley is from the eastern county-shire of Norfolk, where he spent his childhood mostly outside climbing trees and making dens. But he now lives in a
city, specifically the metropolis of London, and in his works we can see the non-urban – the countryside
and nature, imagined as fantastical, magical and visionary. It is a place of childhood innocence. We might call it ‘rurality’.
The overriding tone of Marcus’s work is a profound and concrete positivity. This is work that aims to make people feel good, slow down, pause, take timeout, rest
and feel warmth, peace, good vibrations, good humour, kindness and friendship.
The images in this book stem in part from looking back to the sense of the unknown and mystery that you have as a child – when the little stoves of our imaginations
were stoked by stories and fables peopled with sundry beasts, creatures and monsters. In this artist’s daydream visions of ‘rurality’, there are no cities – only
hand-made wooden houses; and man and all the animals get along together.
The 1970’s – the time Marcus grew up in, is another key source. Seventies fashion, architecture, design and interiors – and especially the rock and pop stars
of era, are imbued with a special resonance in his work. And of course, the images are also to be understood as just being ‘about’ things he likes to draw and
paint; animals; people; animals that are kind of like people; and people that are like animals – along with houseplants, pottery, trees, buildings and abstract patterns.
When Marcus is working, it’s most likely that he’ll be listening to music. Playing selections from his shelves of beloved crackly vinyl records, he is often about the
business of visualising what the warm 70’s sounds make him feel. This is not in the sense of reacting to the words of songs, but more how the music in its wholeness
affects him. Two terms come to mind ‘holistic’ and ‘analogue’. This is why the music of the brother’s Wilson and friends – The Beach Boys, melodic and
harmonious; lyrically haunting and melancholic, has had such a longstanding significance in his work.
– Jason Oakley
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL
‘The Idea of Something’ Book