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ORIGINAL
PAINTING
(OIL)
(OIL)
All Paintings & Prints
can be supplied in
"ready to hang"
handmade and
hand-embellished
"Artist
Frames"
Completed on 27th October 1974, just a few months after The Artist had graduated from St. Martins School of Art, this
painting is of classic 70's origin and an early delve into what was to
become Peter's classic technique - that of "Acryloil". It was done on
canvas board, a side-step from his then usual method of painting on
stretched paper, to be the cover artwork of Keith Roberts collection of
stories titled "The Chalk Giants". Panther
Books, then a well known publisher in the UK (and Commonwealth
Countries) of Science Fiction books, commissioned the work. Peter was
then living in the lower end of the Fulham Road in South West London
and the picture is a product of The Fulham Road Studio, which was to
become famous in the industry and saw many an equally famous visitor,
from Ian Ballantine, to producers and Art directors of such projects as
The War of the Worlds (album) and The Perry Rhodan series of books and
more . . . .This
painting was one of the root explorations and experimentations that
developed what became one of Peter's key strengths sought after by the
world's publishers, that of characterisation and imagined stages, on
which the characters appeared, and many a character, products of a
fertile imagination, were rooted in "The Fulham Years".As the studio became more and more successful, driven by phenomenal worldwide
demand for these images from clients, it moved to Wimbledon and
expanded to be the size of a whole house, and even then, the rooms were
"knee deep" in originals, to the extent that the company that Peter had
formed, Solar Wind Limited, had to, of necessity, form a gallery
division to sell at least some of the works, if only to free-up floor
(and overhead racks!) space.The
"house" became a giant two dimentional menagerie for fantastical beast
and creatures on every landing, hallway, and staircase
- grotesque
monsters, fabulous birds, dragons, snakes, and all manner of "things"
based on ignorance and superstition and gripped and harnessed by
Peter's stunning imagination, they represent and symbolise every human
emotion and attribute, ludicrous and wonderful. They became symbols,
too, of the mysteries and stunning powers of nature. Humans became and
become obsessed by "things" they cannot understand or explain, and "The
Wimbledon Studio" fully developed and extrapolated "man, myth, and
magic" imagery to the full.Fabulous
monsters, or exotic birds, creatures of the water, air, wind and fire -
darkness (especially darkness . . . ) and light; keepers of wisdom,
Lords of The Cosmos over eons - mythical beasts are rooted deep in our
cultural ancestry. Born out of ignorance and gripped by that same
superstition and a fearful imagination, inhabitants of fable and
fairytale, they represent the archetypes and symbols of the torment and
loneliness, turmoil and violence of human emotion. They are the
mysteries of the human soul, symbols of the awesome power of lightning
and tsunami and all human emotions both hideous and wonderful, made
manifest and given physical expression in a two-dimensional icon.The Artist has explored all
these fantasies and nightmares, not least of all in this painting, to
spine-chilling effect.They have a place in the
history of Art.In
what has become "The Church Stretton Studio years" the studio is still
generating these images of myth and legend, and while perhaps more
sophisticated and subtle in their references and implications all are
rooted "in the 70s' studio years" at The Fulham Studio, providing a
past and future abundance of inspiration for painters, illustrators,
story-tellers and even song writers and students of the history of Art
and especially the history of science Fiction and Fantasy Art in which
Peter Andrew Jones has played such a significant and influential part
,as in this image here.Equally,
Keith Roberts was a Science Fiction author of note and the Chalk
Giants, a future fantasy, described a lead character, Stanley Potts,
obsessively attempting to escape and avoid a post nuclear world,
written at a time when the cold war, we were told, could "make that so"
so easily and swiftly, and The Artist's chosen scene is designed to
thrust at you the chilling view of how such a world might easily
descend into primitive tendencies and behaviors "after te bomb". 
See it in this
Collector's Edition book
