ART AND SOUL
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ATHAN WYBURN, 30, from Ebbw Vale was behind the striking NHS portrait, which depicted a nurse in a surgical mask, honouring essential workers during lockdown.
Here, the artist reveals a new portrait of Harvey Milk and his top 10 pieces of LGBTQ+ artwork. 1. HARVEY MILK, USING MILK.
“I created this portrait of the American gay political activist using milk, simply because of his surname. Nobody can deny the impact Milk made in LGBTQ+ society and the wider community. Milk has become an icon, with numerous books and films made about his life.” 2. BARACK OBAMA, ON A PRIDE FLAG.
“During his time in office, Obama made many substantial steps forward for the community. Including legalising gay marriage, and the legislation to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, allowing gay, lesbian, and bisexual Americans to serve openly in the Armed Forces.” 3. FREDDIE MERCURY, IN RED GLITTER.
“This portrait was created to auction at a fundraiser on World Aids Day, for The Terrence Higgins Trust Cymru. I feel the red glitter is so powerful, beautiful and striking, yet extremely sombre at the same time.” 4. H & MATT, ICE RINK PAINTING. “LGBTQ+ representation in TV and cinema is crucial. A huge step forward was Dancing On Ice’s same-sex pairing of Steps singer Ian H Watkins and pro skater Matt Evers. To celebrate this, I painted their portraits using ice rink paint, onto the Ice at the Viola Arena in Cardiff.” 5. CAITLYN JENNER, IN LIPSTICK KISSES.
“When thinking of what to create her likeness, her love for lipstick seemed quite fitting. It’s completed with kiss prints from my own lips too. She loved it too!” 6. OLLY ALEXANDER, IN
RAINBOW GLITTER.
“During their set at Glastonbury, the Years & Years pop singer made a speech about LGBTQ+ and said to ‘shove a rainbow in fear’s face’ which I absolutely loved, and turned into this portrait!” 7. MADONNA, USING PAINTBALL PELLETS.
“This was inspired by her song God Control. The song and video are about the gun laws in the US and, in particular, the mass shooting in Orlando, where 49 people lost their lives in a vicious homophobic attack.” 8. RUBY ROSE, USING PIZZA TOPPINGS.
“This was created for pure fun and because I was a huge fan of the Netflix series Orange Is The New Black! Ruby shared my Facebook post of its time lapse creation to her followers and sent the views over 2 million!” 9. GEORGE MICHAEL, USING MELTED WHAM BARS.
“This is perhaps one of my favourite artworks I’ve ever made. This artwork is my fun way of celebrating the huge talent and the heart that he shared with the world, in my own unique way.” 10. RUPAUL, USING SATAY SAUCE. “When thinking of a material to paint RuPaul, I knew it needed to have that burst of humour that drag queens encapsulate, so I’ve played on his famous line ‘shantay, you stay!’ and opted for satay ‘you stay’ sauce!”