john squire, untitled 2, 1988, oil on canvas, 48" x 26.5"
Untitled 2, first appeared in 1995 on the back of the 1995 Tour guide. It was then later used as the cover art for 'The Very Best Of The Stone Roses' (September 2002).
"He used sticks and basting syringes. I didn't have access to a basting syringe, and I didn't know how the stick method worked - so I used simple decorating brushes that were lying around the house, that had been used and gone hard." (Speaking on John Squire Art.com - Feb 2004)
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manchester exhibition photo - mick knaggs
Something you may/not have spotted, part of the picture is actually a cigarette butt.
very best of poster
jackson pollock, full fathom five, 1947, oil on canvas with nails, tacks, buttons, key, coins, cigarettes, matches, etc., 50 7/8" x 30 1/8" (right)
John Squire always admitted that one of the artworks he created was a direct copy of a Jackson Pollock original and after researching Pollock, I have determined that it is 'Untitled 2' that is Squire's closest homage to Pollock and the piece, 'Full Fathom Five'. Although they differ in colours, both retain a marine-like colour scheme and as the details below show, Squire's piece mirrors Pollock's, down to the bold pair of orange strokes with white that both paintings share. Full Fathom Five also, of course, is the title of the Instrumental b-side of 'Elephant Stone' (and is Elephant Stone reversed). 'Full Fathom Five' is also a phrase used in 'Ariel's Song' from 'The Tempest' by William Shakespeare (see below).
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(Close Detail) | (Close Detail) |
(From Ariel's Song, "The Tempest" by William Shakespeare)
| Full fathom five thy father lies; |
| Of his bones are coral made; |
| Those are pearls that were his eyes; |
| Nothing of him that does fade, |
| But doth suffer a sea-change |
| Into something rich and strange. |
| Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell: |
| Ding-dong, |
| Hark! Now I hear them – Ding-dong, bell. |
