Wednesday 30 November 2011

Catweazle - Last in Wrestling Paintings Series


Catweazle - 'False Teeth'


Acrylic on canvas. 24x30cm. Painting by Luke Haines. Edition 1 of 1. Signed.
Catweazle - in Heaven. Gary 'Catweazle' Cooper, based his act upon a children's TV character.
Catweazle (the wrestler) didn't much look like Catweazle ( the children's telly wizard) but who the
hell cared. With his sack cloth and long lank hair Catweazle was the closest thing to a real
psychedelic wrestler. Now, everyone needs a gimmick and the 'Weazle had two. A plastic frog
that he'd fanny around with, (much to the irritation of his opponents) and false teeth, that would
invariably get knocked out of his mouth. Gasp at the streaks of silver paint that make up Catweazle's
amazing hair. Marvel at his fulsome beard. I painted this to a soundtrack of 'Wild Eyed Boy From
Freecloud,' that sort of thing. Catweazle - we miss you.

ALL PAINTINGS NOW SOLD, THANK YOU.

Saturday 26 November 2011

Big Daddy/ Jim Breaks - Wrestle Paintings for Sale

Big Daddy - 'Rock 2'


Acrylic on canvas. 24 x 30cm. Painting by Luke Haines. 1 of 1.
Shirley Crabtree - in Heaven. The undisputed people's favourite. Started wrestling in the '50s. Retired. Then came back in the 1970s as the beloved Big Daddy. Apparently the first man to unmask Nagasaki. Here, Big Daddy stands beneath the legend  'Rock 2.' Rock 2 is Daddy's favourite pre-set on the Casio VL Tone. The Casio VL tone is the people's keyboard, and Big Daddy is the people's wrestler. Religions are founded on less than this.

THIS HAS NOW SOLD, THANK YOU.


Jim Breaks - 'Cry Baby'

Acrylic on canvas. 24 x 30cm. Painting by Luke Haines. 1 of 1.
Jim Breaks is a hard man. A hard man who does not like his ears being touched. If you do touch them he will cry. Then he will go berserk and hurt you very badly. When I was working on this painting, I felt that the likeness to Jim Breaks was so true, that I thought it might come alive, and that is why I have put two crosses over the ears. To remind myself not to touch Jim Breaks' ears. If you become the owner of this painting, you too will be glad that the crosses are there...there to remind you. 'Not to touch the ears.'

THIS HAS NOW SOLD, THANK YOU.

Friday 25 November 2011

Wrestle Paintings For Sale - SOLD OUT




These are the original canvases I painted for the 'Luke Haines 1978 Grapple Calendar' - part of the CD packaging for '91/2 Psychedelic Meditations...' album. I'd quite like to keep them all, but I don't have room, I am hanging on to 2 paintings  - Catweazle, and Rollerball Rocco, and the remaining 10 are available for purchase here. These are all originals, each of the paintings is an edition: 1 of 1. There are no copies. I will put two paintings up for sale a day, they will remain up until they are sold. All paintings are signed.

All paintings are £175.00 inc. Post and packing in the UK. Europe + £8.00 p&p. USA + £14.00 p&p


1/ Dickie Davies. 24cm x 30cm. Acrylic on Canvas. Painting by Luke Haines. 1 of 1.
Title: 'Grapple Fans'
Dickie 'The Eyes' Davies,  Captain Willard to Giant Haystacks Colonel Kurtz, perhaps? Maybe. Not really. Sir Dick of Eyes - the housewives favourite. And, like the Mona Lisa, or The Laughing Cavalier (or Laughing Gnome?) those 'eyes' just seem to follow you around the room. So, art lovers, just imagine your very own Dickie Davies, on your living room wall, looking at you, forever.



THIS HAS NOW SOLD, THANK YOU.


2/ Kendo Nagasaki. 24cm x 30 cm. Acrylic on canvas. Painting by Luke Haines. 1 of 1.
Title 'Nagasaki Nightmare'
Kendo Nagasaki, the masked man's masked man. Feel the powers of Nagasaki, mystical, esoteric, the force. Kendo - a wizard and a true star.






THIS HAS NOW SOLD, THANK YOU.

Thursday 24 November 2011

Adrian Street/ Bomber Pat Roach Wrestle Paintings



Adrian Street - 'Hair - Exotic'
Acrylic on canvas. 24x30cm. Painting by Luke Haines. Edition 1 of 1

His hair is pure platinum, spun of fine silk. His boa is feathered, spun of fine Ostrich. Relax everyone for he is married! He is Androgynous Adrian Street. The Glam rockers' glam rocker. Just as dads up and down the country curled a lip at the sight of young David Bowie on Top of the Pops and belched out the words 'woolly woofter', hundreds of old age pensioners sat ringside in this islands' provincial town halls, grumbling about the toll the outside WC was taking upon their arthritic joints, ignoring the spectacle in front of them - Exotic Adrian Street. Big Dave might have been singing about a Starman, but in his head Adrian Street was that Starman. I painted this coquettish canvas to a soundtrack of only the highest order orthodox glam rock. Naturally. Behold, the great Adrian Street. 

THIS HAS NOW SOLD, THANK YOU.




Pat Roach - 'Bomber'

Acrylic on canvas. 24x30cm. Painting by Luke Haines. Edition 1 of 1.

Pat Roach - In Heaven. Pat Roach, TV's 'Bomber', liked to refer to himself in the third person. Such is the general rot and decline in standards in our fabled country that for some reason it is now thought to be somewhat 'silly' to refer to oneself in the third person. Tommy rot. When Luke Haines paints a picture of Pat 'Bomber' Roach, he  refers to himself only in the third person. So, Pat 'Bomber' Roach, for your tireless grapple work, for your TV work, for your referring to yourself in the third person work. Luke Haines Salutes you. St. Bomber.

THIS HAS NOW SOLD, THANK YOU.


Mick McManus/ Les Kellett Wrestle Paintings

Mick McManus - 'New Cross'
Acrylic on canvas. 24x30cm. Painting by Luke Haines. Edition 1 of 1. Signed.
Say it. 'Not a grey hair on his head' Mick McManus of the perma-jet-black-hair-skull-cap. Born in New Cross many years ago hailing from a time when a nick name like 'The Tough Guy From South London' was deemed perfectly acceptable. McManus was one of the first to play fast and loose with the rules and pretty much invented the concept of the man you loved to hate. Look at the  shape of his body, this is the shape that men used to strive for. I have captured this shape in thick blue paint. It should be pointed out that even though Mick McManus (sadly) did not co -write Hawkwinds' 'Silver Machine,' he is still one of the finest men to walk on Englands green pastures.


THIS HAS NOW SOLD, THANK YOU.



Les Kellett - ' 'Orrible'

Acrylic on canvas. 24x30cm. Painting by Luke Haines. Edition 1 of 1. Signed.
Les Kellett - in Heaven. 58 years old when he started wrestling, Les Kellett looked like yer grandad with a hangover. Actually your Grandad looked younger. Les brought a mixture of fear and loathing into the ring. Also, the proprietor of one of the worst transport cafes in the North (invoked in the song 'Inside The Restless Mind Of Rollerball Rocco.) Look at his hair - it is silver, it has three dimensions. Silver, silver, and silver. The paint, you see, is globule thick. If you had a magic comb you could rake it through that paint barnet. I mainly worked on this canvas to the marxist drones of 'AMMUSIC 1966'. It seemed appropriate.

THIS HAS NOW SOLD, THANK YOU.