David Bowie 020 (second edition 050)

Look closer to find one lyric and seven song titles: “Can you hear me, Major Tom” (Space Oddity); Fame; Let’s Dance; Young Americans; Under Pressure; Golden Years; Changes; Ziggy Stardust; Rebel Rebel

David Bowie

David Robert Jones was born, Jan. 8, 1947 and died on Jan. 10, 2016. Known professionally as David Bowie, Jones was an English singer, songwriter and actor. He was considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, acclaimed by critics and musicians, particularly for his innovative work during the ‘70s. His record sales are estimated at 140 million albums worldwide. In the UK, he was awarded ten platinum album certifications, eleven gold and eight silver, and released eleven number-one albums. In the US, he received five platinum and nine gold certifications. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, 1996.

Born in Brixton, South London, Bowie was interested in music as a child, also studying art, music and design. He embarked on a professional career as a musician at 16. “Space Oddity” became the 22 year-old’s first top-five entry on the UK Singles Chart after its release in July 1969. After a period of experimentation, he re-emerged in 1972 during the glam rock era with his flamboyant and androgynous alter ego Ziggy Stardust. The character was spearheaded by the success of his single “Starman” and album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. In 1975, Bowie’s style shifted radically towards a sound he characterized as “plastic soul”, initially alienating many of his UK devotees but garnering him his first major US crossover success with the number-one single “Fame” and the album Young Americans. In 1976, Bowie starred in the cult film The Man Who Fell to Earth, directed by Nicolas Roeg, and released Station to Station. The following year, he further confounded musical expectations with the electronic-inflected album Low (1977), the first of three collaborations with Brian Eno that came to be known as the “Berlin Trilogy”. “Heroes” (1977) and Lodger (1979) followed; each album reached the UK top 5 receiving lasting critical praise.

After uneven commercial success in the late 1970s, Bowie had UK number ones with the 1980 single “Ashes to Ashes”, its parent album Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), and “Under Pressure”, a 1981 collaboration with Queen. He reached his commercial peak in 1983 with Let’s Dance; the album’s title track topped both UK and US charts. His acting roles included Major Jack Celliers in Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (‘83), Jareth the Goblin King in Labyrinth (‘86), Pontius Pilate in The Last Temptation of Christ (‘88), and Nikola Tesla in The Prestige (‘06). In 2013, Bowie returned from a decade-long recording hiatus with The Next Day. He remained musically active until he died of liver cancer two days after the release of his final album, Blackstar (2016).       

-credit Wikipedia

In the spring of 1962, Bowie got into a fight with his school pal — and, later, lifetime artistic partner — George Underwood. Bowie, it seems, was in the throes of teenage love, and his best friend, Underwood, was crushing hard on the same girl. When the singer began “boasting . . . about what a Casanova I was,” Underwood wasn’t pleased, and punched Bowie smack-dab in his left eye. “It wasn’t a very hard punch but. . .” Underwood’s fingernail had scratched the surface of Bowie’s eyeball, paralyzing the muscles that contract the iris. Despite the fistfight, the boys’ relationship healed: The two became lifelong friends and artistic collaborators.                                         

-credit thecut.com

The artwork: 

First print donated to Save Our Springs, 2019 Holiday Party and Silent Auction. Started in 1992 to save the Barton Creek watershed, their efforts also protect the Edwards Aquifer which provides water to over 4 million people. And. . . the organization has registered the Barton Springs Salamander as endangered through a supreme court ruling.

Digital Print on Archival Matte – Original illustration done in graphite and the following prisma colors:.True Blue for the iris that dilates, Crimson Red for “red eye” in unedited photos, and Gold for the song Golden Years. These colors were chosen to match Bowie’s face on the Aladdin Sane album cover, 1973.
Artist: Tobin Bortner of Bastrop, Texas – drawing done in May of 2019 – ©Tobin Signs/Look Closer Illustrations 

DERIVATIVE Work – photo credit: david-bowie-renaissance-man Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty – also david_bowie_Richard Young/REX Shutterstock – also the mic is from bowie-snl-2 from uproxx.com SNL performance of “Boys Keep Swinging,”

What you get:
$40 (36.95 + 3.05 tax) this is 050 the second edition
11 x 14 Print Package with Authenticity Sheet
signed and numbered (run of 90)
Domestic Priority Mail $8 (Free shipping)