Dean Martin - The Mad Artist [Biography]

I always loved to draw as a kid. Over the years I've dabbled in various mediums, oils, watercolour, airbrushing and the good old rattle cans and currently experimenting working with acrylics. I've received no formal artistic training as such, preferring to be self-taught through my own trial and error, consequently I've always lacked the real confidence to show or promote my work in any professional capacity. Over the years, painting became more of a hobby and a way of relaxing after a hard day's graft.

Around 3 years ago, I pursued life-portraits, first, in a pop art style, then over time, added more and more details and features as I became accustomed to the paints and the medium.

In 2018, I produced a series of London gangster paintings which were enjoyed by the friends and family of the subjects in the collection. Charlie Richardson's wife, the lovely Ronnie Richardson saw his portraits and we got chatting before becoming good friends. Mrs Richardson then offered to host my first exhibition in London putting on display all the gangster paintings I had created, with all the remaining old school faces in attendance, it was a very surreal experience.

I've had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know some of the most notorious men in Britain through my art. That particular exhibition was the start of a crazy year for me where I received a number of private commissions and offers for creating artworks for book covers etc, I will always be grateful to Mrs Richardson for starting the ball rolling for me.