George Underwood was born in Bromley Kent. George Underwood joined Beckenham Art School in 1963. At art school George Underwood became more and more interested in music. As a result he pursued a career in the music world.
Along with life long friend David Bowie he made one record -The King Bees- and also a solo record under the name Calvin James. After deciding that the music business was not for him, George returned to art studies and then worked in design studios as an illustrator. Initially he specialised in fantasy, horror and science fiction book covers.
Many of George Underwood's colleagues in the music business asked him to do various art works for them. This led to George becoming a freelance artist. Art work for the first T Rex album and later David Bowie’s Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust album covers established him as a leading and creative art illustrator.
Over this period George produced literally hundreds of book covers, LP and CD covers, advertisements, portraits and drawings.
At the start of the 1970’s George Underwood started painting in oils. His paintings were influenced at first by the Viennese School of Fantastic Realism -artists which included Ernst Fuchs, Rudolph Hausner and Eric Brauer. George regarded them as contemporary visionaries like Bruegel and Bosch. He was fascinated by their imaginative visions.
Imagination is the key word in George's paintings. He rarely uses live models nowadays, preferring to invent people who inhabit their own personal world.
George Underwood paintings are held in many private art collections.
One of his art collectors, David Bowie, says:
"George has, over the years, refined his work to the point where I would put him among the top figurative painters coming out of the UK right now.
There’s a sublime isolation surrounding his subjects that really touches the viewer, the figures being both heroic and vulnerable simultaneously.
There’s a timeless element in the choice of subject matter that overlaps with the mythical world of Odd Nerdrum, say. Now that a huge shift to painting is taking place, I would expect to see George’s name pushed further and further to the front".
L'immaginazione è la parola chiave nei dipinti di George Underwood. Raramente usa modelli dal vivo al giorno d'oggi, preferendo inventare le persone che abitano il proprio mondo personale.
George Underwood è nato a Bromley Kent, Regno Unito, ed è entrato alla Beckenham Scuola d'Arte nel 1963, dove ha sviluppato un interesse per la musica insieme a compagni di classe David Bowie e Peter Frampton.
Il complesso Underwood e Bowie fu di breve durata a causa dell'incidente accaduto a Bowie all'occhio sinistro, causato da un anello al dito di Underwood, durante una lite per una ragazza, causando la paralisi della pupilla sinistra di Bowie.
Ma l'infortunio non ha influenzato la loro amicizia e Underwood ha continuato a registrare con Bowie (nella loro band The King Bees) ed anche un disco solista sotto il nome di Calvin James.
Dopo aver deciso che il mondo della musica non era per lui, Underwood tornò agli studi artistici e ha lavorato in studi di design come illustratore. Inizialmente, si è specializzato in fantasy, horror e fantascienza per copertine di libri, ma molti dei suoi colleghi che erano nel mondo della musica hanno cominciato a chiedergli di fare varie opere d'arte per loro.
Questo lo ha portato a diventare un artista freelance. Così Underwood si è affermato come illustratore facendo le copertine degli album per artisti come Tyrannosaurus Rex (Futuristico Drago), The Fixx (Phantoms, raggiungere la spiaggia e animali Calm), Procol Harum (Shine On Brightly), Mott the Hoople (Tutto il Giovane Dudes) e David Bowie (Hunky Dory e The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust e gli Spiders from Mars). Durante questo periodo, ha prodotto centinaia di copertine di libri, LP e CD copertine, pubblicità, ritratti e disegni.
All'inizio del 1970 l'artista ha iniziato a dipingere ad olio. La sua arte è stata influenzata dalla Scuola viennese di artisti Realismo fantastico come Ernst Fuchs, Rudolph Hausner ed Eric Brauer.
George Underwood | David Bowie - Snow White
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