IAN FRANCIS

IAN FRANCIS

I was influenced by a huge range of people when I was growing up; I think probably the biggest single influences were Reggie Pedro, for the fantastic compositions & painting, Stanley Donwood, simply because I love some of the textures he uses and Dave McKean for the mixed-media & computer aspect.

The sometimes apocalyptic feel of my work comes from the combination of the fact we're probably the safest and wealthiest we've ever been against both the mass media sense of impending doom and also the fact that a potential world resource shortage could realistically mean that we won't be living this lifestyle for that much longer.

I'm interested in life, small inter-personal relationships, celebrities, etc. Against that backdrop there are a lot of huge apocalyptic things that you read about or see on the news that aren't always immediately obvious when you walk out the door. It’s about pornography and news reports from war zones instead of sex and death.

“My work is about modern life, particularly television, world events, celebrities, and day-to-day living