John Squire's portrait of Lady Gaga
Ex-Stone Roses guitarist turned respected artist John Squire has painted portraits of various celebrities, including Lady Gaga, Rihanna and David Beckham, as part of a new exhibition due to run at London’s Idea Generation Gallery from June 10th-July 3rd.
“It’s a brief respite from the endless bombardment of celebrity images,” he said. “It asks, ‘How often do we really need to see copies of complete strangers’ faces, and why do we collectively choose those particular people?'”
Squire has used ancient symbols and Islamic art as the inspiration for his distinctive work, which he has described as a change from the ‘endless bombardment’ of modern celebrity culture.
“I applied this concept to the gods chosen by modern Western culture,” Squire continued. “Those whose stories have been told and retold and whose images have been mass produced to such an extent that they are granted a kind of immortality.”
Squire has been part of recent rumours regarding a reunion for The Stone Roses, something which continues to be robustly denied by the various former bandmates.
