The first time I came across Dunstan Doodles’ work (aka Dunstan Carter) was last March when I reviewed the Grafters OV Denton EP for XS Noize. The cover featured a picture of a boy with an unsettling gaze and blood coming from his nose. It wasn’t until the second series of Stranger Things came out I realised it was Eleven, the female character from the said show.
On Thursday 10th May he held an exhibition Psych Icons at the Foundation Coffee House in Manchester’s Northern Quarter. It was a fun evening as 12 portraits of psychedelic icons held court amongst a band setting up and a variety of people mingling and a DJ set. Legends including Jim Morrison, LOVE’s Arthur Lee, Grace Slick, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Syd Barrett were on display amongst others including a great one of Steve Hillage.
His work is a mixture of line drawings with ink and mixed media layering card to create a collage effect. For example, Jim Morrison’s shirt, on close inspection contained what appeared to be a photo of a landscape and I loved the touch on Grace Slicks’ shirt sleeve with pictures from Alice in Wonderland paying homage of course to Jefferson Airplane’s psychedelic hit White Rabbit.
The idea came to Dunstan last year after he created a series Manchester Icons including Shaun Ryder, Noel Gallagher and Ian Curtis to name a few.
To add to the evening there was a DJ (playing psychedelic sounds) and three bands. The first band being Cold Water Swimmers with guitarist and vocalist Chris Bridgett who ironically was part of the mentioned Grafters OV Denton. (Chris was a former member of Manchester’s “lost” band Dub Sex, a John Peel favourite). They played their first ever gig, a tight set of punky driven vibes which complemented the exhibition well. Two other bands also played The Cornelius Crane and Control of the Going but by this time I had to leave just as the evening had warmed up. Far out!
Be the first to comment