Other Peoples Favourite Album Adventure.

This is the time of year when people list what favourite new music they have discovered, I do it too sometimes. But this year I've hardly had any time to listen to any new music.

I mean I've heard the usual suspects The Indelicates, Fightmilk, Ezra Furman all great of course, and I made time for Go Kart Mozart and Peter Perrett (both also amazing) and discovered Idles (who I have found out about late but are also fantastic) but other than that I've been painting and listening to other peoples favourite albums.

I had no idea this project would take off as much as it has, I've painted over 100 favourite albums now (I sometimes forget to take photos of them if I'm in a rush so they aren't all on my Instagram) and reviewed them all. It has been a strange year, with every spare moment taken up listening to someone else's favourite music.

I've written some pretty harsh music critisism in the past. I thought I'd be doing that with this too enjoying some albums and tearing apart others, but when it came to it, I found I couldn't do it. It just didn't seem the right thing to do especially if the album was intended a gift for somebody

'Happy Birthday! I got Eddie Argos to paint your favourite album, he FUCKING DETESTED IT'

or

'Congratulations on getting married I got Eddie Argos to paint the music you fell in love to, he thinks you are both idiots for liking it and your taste in music sucks'

See not nice!

I didn't want to do anything like that, so actually what turned out to be the most fun thing about the project was finding something I liked about each album. Even Bloc Party.

Going in to each new album with the mind-set 'Hmm I wonder what I will find to enjoy about this' made it a lot more enjoyable. I managed to emphasis the positive with every album, which not only helped me discover I have a broader music taste than I believed, but also, without wanting to sound like a fucking new age  hippy, changed the way I see life.

It turns out, life, not just album paintings, is much more enjoyable if you enter every new challenge with the thought. 'Hmm, I wonder what I will find to enjoy about this' I have decided to make it my mantra. So thanks to the Other Peoples Favourite Album Project for that.

As well as gaining what was probably, for other people, a blindingly obvious insight into a good mantra to live your life by. I did also discover some fantastic music that I would not have stumbled across by myself. I was also surprised that the people who got involved had such broad taste in music. I was expecting it all to be Helen Love, Hefner and Half Man Half Biscuit albums.

The two favourite albums I have discovered from painting have been Wild Honey by The Beach Boys and A Date With Elvis by The Cramps.

I was dreading painting Wild Honey if I'm honest. It was a complicated looking one and I thought

'oh no I'm going to have to spend a week listening to over produced songs about sun tanned girls and surfing'

When actually its a perfect slice of bubble gum pop soul music. Its raw sounding, really funny in places and kind of sexy. None of those things were something I would have previously associated with The Beach Boys.

I was really looking forward to painting a Date With Elvis, as I knew a little about The Cramps from owning 'Best Ofs' and live albums. They were a band I knew I liked but had never really fully explored. I was delighted to find they were even filthier than I had been expecting with 'What's Inside A Girl?' and 'Can Your Pussy Do The Dog?' being particularly great examples. Loved it.

I also got to revisit a lot of albums I love like Midnite Vulture by Beck and Radiator by The Super Furry Animals, pretty much  every Pixies album and some Frank Black and The Catholics, as well as a few of my own favourite albums by Jonathan Richman, David Devant and Hist Spirit Wife and The Mountain Goats.

It was also interesting to see which albums got painted more than once, I painted two Meadowlands by The Wrens, Two Bang Bang Rock and Rolls by Art Brut, Two Frank Zappa's Hot Rats (another album I was not expecting to like but fell in love with), two Sgt Peppers by The Beatles and FIVE With Love and Squalors by We Are Scientists.

So if we are using this as a barometer of best albums ever (and I think we are) We Are Scientists win by three points. 

I've really enjoyed making everybody's favourite albums, It really has taken over my life for a year though. There are still a fair few out in the post at the moment plus a few more I still need to paint. So I'm sure I'll write another blog about it when I paint the last painting.

I'm going to take commissions till the end of the year. So if you would like your favourite album painted. I do them in two sizes and the link is HERE

Or if you want to buy someone a gift there is a link to a special voucher you can buy HERE

Thanks dudes! This has been fun.

Lots and Lots of Paintings.

I've been making album paintings all year.

They look like this.

Super Furry Animals. Radiator.

And this.

Hole Live Through This.

I paint the album while listening to it and then write a little review.

I know people like to buy them for Christmas presents. So I thought I'd give you a heads up that if you are planning to do that you should get in early to make sure they arrive on time. Unlike Father Christmas I don't have lots of little elves. There is just me and my paints.

You can order those HERE

Some people don't know what their boyfriend/girlfriend/son/daughter/dog/cat/libriarian's favourite album is. So for those people I've made a voucher you can give them in the form of a card for their choice of favourite album. That they can then redeem it by emailing me and telling me what album they would like. I've added 4 pounds to the cost of the painting for postage of the voucher and the card.

You can order those HERE

I'm also making smaller Formed A Band paintings for a limited time in acrylic on Canvas board. 24cm x 18cm, numbered and signed those are £60

Both sizes of those are available HERE

And a few people have asked me if I can make these Transparent B Side paintings with other lyrics on them.
 

As it is getting close to Christmas, I've decided that I will. I can make you a transparent B Side painting with any lyric you choose on it, by anybody not just Art Brut as long as the lyric is not terrible (I decide what is terrible) They are £25 each

Those are HERE

and HERE is a link to my shop with some other paintings too.

Large Affordable Paintings Special Gift Me.

Last month, I invented a new way to deliver MASSIVE PAINTINGS. I wrote about it HERE. 

The main gist is that if you buy a painting, and pay for my travel and food I will hand deliver the painting to you (this is cheaper than shipping it) PLUS I will perform my spoken word show for you and your friends, or in your pub, playgroup, school assembly..WHERE EVER YOU WANT.

You can charge people a fee to see the spoken word show and make back the money for the painting, or as an altruistic gesture invite your family and friends and let me tell them all about FORMING A BAND with the hope of making them form their own.

I will also DJ wether you want me to or not.

You only pay for the painting (travel, food and let me sleep on your sofa) everything else I see as part of an adventure.

I sold two MASSIVE paintings using this system, I'm going to Derby for a birthday party in December and to New York for a vegan wedding renewal celebration in September.

I now see Derby and New York as twin cities.

I can not wait. These are both exactly the sort of adventures I was looking for when I had the idea.

I also have two large paintings that I would like to deliver in the same way. I'm not making new paintings these are large paintings from my exhibition in Berlin last year. So when they are gone they
are gone.

The two paintings are a large barcode trees. (acrylic on canvas 80cm x 60cm)

and a large Sealand. (70cm x 50cm)

I do not make these motifs anymore

Large Barcode trees costs 650 Euro

Large Sealand costs 500 Euros.

Massive Formed A Band still available (HERE)

If you are interested you can email me at Eddie.Argos.Resource@gmail.com

It would make a nice christmas present, but I'm afraid I can not spend Christmas day with you.

I'm already looking forward to sleeping on your sofa

Thanks. Eddie Argos.

Massive Paintings, Affordable Shipping, Bonus Gift Me.

Hello. I have some large paintings for Sale.

Formed A Band 120cm x 100cm Acrylic on Canvas (this is the best size of Formed A Band Painting)

And 'Abstract Expressionism is Harder Than It Looks' also Acrylic On Canvas 120cm x 100cm


These paintings are ACE, and LOVELY and MASSIVE and VERY expensive to ship.

So I have figured out a way around that.

For the brilliant price of £850 (plus travel) you can have one of these amazing paintings hand delivered to you by me and as a bonus I will then perform my spoken word show 'I Formed A Band' for you (with a Q and A at the end)

I will perform wherever you like.. in your house..at your club..in your doctors waiting room..play group.. working mans club... and also for any occasion you want...  a birthday ...a bar mitzvah... a court hearing..

You are more than welcome to invite other people along for free, or if you want to charge them money you can do that too, or maybe you would like to be the only person there to relish the awkwardness of me delivering an hour long monologue to you sat by yourself staring at me from your arm chair.

All you need to do is pay for me to get there and a little bit of refreshment.

Travel.

I can't drive so you'll need to pay for a train, bus, taxi, horse and cart.. to get me to your house. As long as its possible to bring a large painting along with me I'll do it.

For Flying, I travel economy with just hand luggage, you will have to pay for the painting one way though of course, (outsize luggage on a flight is usually just the same as a suitcase) I dont mind flying at stupid o'clock.

Accommodation 

You will also (unless you are in Berlin snd maybe London) have to give me somewhere to sleep. A sofa is totally fine. I don't mind a cat sleeping on me but a dog or larger animal is a bit too much.

I'll also need a tiny bit of food (I will eat whatever you are having as long as it is not liver)

And also a little bit of drink (I'll drink whatever you are having as long as its not Pernod)

And thats it.

So a painting and a spoken word show for £850. You can invite 85 of your friends and charge them £10 each to get a free painting, or you can try and bring more people and make a profit. I don't care as far as I'm concerned it is all included in the price of the painting.

Just don't lock me in a cage, or attack me, or photograph me when I'm asleep and we are all good.

If you are interested in this amazing offer. You can get in touch with me at

Eddie.Argos.Resource@gmail.com put the words Massive Painting in the header of your email.

There is only one Abstract Expressionism painting. But large Formed A Band paintings can be made to order.

The painting will be very well wrapped and packaged.

I look forward to sleeping on your sofa.

Look Good In Leather.

Hey! I've been very busy writing songs and painting album covers, so I've not had a chance to mention this till now..

Earlier in the year, I collaborated on some leather Jackets with JAROW for Ecole Boutique  you can see the amazing things we made in these great campaign photos from BRIX & MASS.

and in more detail here in these photos from Annette Riedel

That skull glows in the dark.

And here is  Death To Everything Jacket.

And here they are in the shop 

I even did an Art Brut Karaoke set at the launch, it was great you should have been there.

Thats me singing Blame It On The Trains (thanks to my mate Pete for the photo)

I fucking loved making the jackets, and was incredibly flattered to be asked by Ecole and to work with Jarow (Madonna owns one of his Jackets AMAZING)

It also filled me with delight to see my paintings on clothing and things that aren't canvas, and led me to make these T-Shirts, Mugs and Tote bags.

It also made me want to paint everything I own with glow in the dark paint.

You can go and see the Jackets at Ecole if you are in Berlin, its on Torstr.3 10119, you can also buy them of course (not from me get in touch with the shop)

You can buy the mugs, Tshirts and Tote bags from me though, they are only available this week from Mercht  and you can get them from here.

T-SHIRT             TOTE BAG              MUG 

I'm off to paint some more album covers. Enjoy your long weekend. 

All love Eddie Argos.