Noel Fielding sells Ed Sheeran portrait for almost £1,000 at art exhibition
An artwork of Ed Sheeran painted by Noel Fielding has sold for nearly £1,000 at a virtual art exhibition.
The Mighty Boosh star has painted a number of portraits of famous people for the Saatchi Gallery as their guest artist for the month, including Sheeran, Michael Jackson, The Sex Pistols, as well as The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover.
The paintings have been on sale for £912 each, with Sheeran’s – who is depicted as a yellow and orange blob with two black dots for eyes – and the others’ now all sold, according to the website.
@noelfielding11
I don't know what the press is on about, kiddo, this looks *exactly* like #EdSheeran. It looks more like Ed Sheeran than Ed Sheeran, which is art *exceeding* life, imitation be damned, g. Congratulations, ❤️. #noelfielding pic.twitter.com/7d0LHELUvi— Nero Trask (@NeroTrask) June 15, 2020
“Noel Fielding’s artworks bridge seamlessly the imagined worlds and counterculture references we have been led through courtesy of Mighty Boosh and Luxury Comedy,” the gallery said of his artwork.
“Drawing on surrealism, dada and neo-expressionism, Noel’s body of work treats us to a feast of colour and a trip through the triangle window into his soul.”
Fielding himself said of his work: “The characters I paint are often fantastical, usually half human half animal, strange magical beasts who roam my subconscious. It’s the same in my comedy – I’d rather play Old Gregg, a transexual Merman, than someone who exists in real life.”
Meanwhile, The Mighty Boosh has been pulled from Netflix over the use of blackface with the character Spirit of Jazz, played by Fielding, alongside The League of Gentlemen for the same reason over character Papa Lazarou.
It comes in the wake of a number of shows being removed from streaming services in the wake of perceived racial insensitivity, including Little Britain, Come Fly With Me and four Chris Lilley programmes.
