Dale Marshall 🇬🇧 Vermin • New Paintings • Exhibition News

[Lroy]

I liked so much Dale ‘s artworks.. We are still great friends on social media, I have some artworks from him, but I did not know that he was still painting..

[bookends]

Great painter, love his work, seems to be going from strength to strength.

[Someones Brain]

Dale's Anti Hero print ist still one of the favorite prints I own.

His body of work is great. (... but - or from my point of view fortunately - nothing for these folks around here who consider every piece they buy from an purely investment perspective)

Anti Hero and Vacant Hero still available from Goldmark...

shop.goldmarkatelier.com/product/anti-hero-dale-vn-marshall
shop.goldmarkatelier.com/product/vacant-hero-dale-vn-marshall
 

[kaym]

Hi, I'm just quickly responding to the comments above. Dale has exhibited mainly in LA and London whilst also having a fantastic solo museum show under his belt. Living in Ireland 2018 he found himself homeless due to mental health reasons. He pulled his life back together where he couldn't paint in this period but has been quietly commissioned 2020 onwards. He has been working in my studio ever since and is as dedicated as ever producing beautiful layered and textured works. TBH I've never really understood much about Urban Art, just seeing Murals and I didn't understand Dales work as I like representational when visiting galleries. But knowing now, his abstraction, meaning and passion is something to be applauded. As he says "it's all in the details" , thanks for your feedback.

[kaym]

This bank holiday weekend marks 25 years since artist Dale Collins, formerly known as Dale VN Marshall, was sectioned at the UK’s second-oldest asylum, which has since been demolished and rebuilt.
It was a Friday when Dale, en route to Newquay, Cornwall, experienced a mental breakdown after listening to Oasis's "The Masterplan" on the car stereo. By Monday morning, following a confrontation with campsite owners and subsequent arrest, he was declared insane by a local psychiatrist in a police cell and transported by ambulance to the mental facility on a beautiful summer morning.
To commemorate '25 years of what they call mental illness,' we will share four artworks by the artist, with one released each day from Friday to Monday.

This is a graffiti piece in Bristol- circa 2008

[Manty]

I like Dale, a lovely man, great artist, hope it goes well, i'm sure it will!

[kaym]

'Celebrating 25 years of what they call mental illness'
Day 2
This piece, titled "Vermin Angel," was painted on Dean Lane in Bedminster on July 22, 1999. Not long after, it was defaced by another writer who scrawled the words "avant-garde shite" over it.
If you look closely at the letter "M" in the "Vermin" part of the piece, you'll notice devil horns subtly incorporated into the design. The artwork was set against a backdrop of moon craters, accompanied by the words, "I want to create something indescribable." Even now, 25 years later, the piece continues to evoke indescribable moments.
On the day it was painted, the artist engaged in conversation with fellow Bristol native Banksy. While Banksy went on to achieve widespread recognition, "Vermin Angel" marked a turning point in Dale's life. This was his last piece painted on a wall before the psychosis, and it served as the catalyst for his initial nervous breakdown. Few people understand the significance behind this, but it represents a stark contrast—Vermin versus Angel, a tale of opposites.
Two months later, Dale's life took a dramatic turn, as he metaphorically "went to the moon," spending seven years trying to return to earth, still grappling with what he labels "what they call mental illness."

continuing tomorrow on this thread after yesterdays post.

[kaym]

Continued from last post yesterday
Celebrating 25 years of what they call mental illness


Back in the pit 2003
After attempting to attend art college while on antipsychotic medication, Dale experienced a devastating nervous breakdown that lasted 12 weeks, leaving him bedridden and overwhelmed by constant suicidal thoughts. Losing his place at college due to the prolonged absence, he was readmitted to a psychiatric hospital, attending a day centre five days a week. Dale described this as the hardest year of his life, surrounded by patients experiencing daily manic episodes.
Although he managed to recover to some extent, weeks turned into years of persistent depression and mild psychosis, with his thoughts gradually improving over time.
This canvas was painted during the start of his hospital program in 2003, at a time when his life was in shambles, and he struggled to make sense of both his existence and his art. The canvas, barely stretched and unprimed, features his graffiti tag "Vermin," drawn without any cohesion, then slashed with a knife to represent vermin claws.
Later, in better health, Dale revisited this style, returning to painting on walls, which became a precursor to his later works on canvas, including the Room101 oils in 2010.
The following work was painted with Australian artist Kid Zoom in Stokes Croft Bristol 2010.

[kaym]

Thank you for tuning in to “25 Years of What They Call Mental Illness” by artist Dale Collins, formerly known as Dale VN Marshall.
This marks the final image in the documentation of the artist's journey through a mental health crisis.

On this Monday morning 25 years ago around 10am (the time of posting), he entered a mental facility via ambulance, walking into the communal area, awaiting instructions for his next steps. Confused and disoriented by psychosis, he desperately sought a way out, a path back home that felt a million miles away. The question of whether he was even alive plagued his mind. Faced with this uncertainty, he realized he had to fight for his existence. Instructed to do so, he erupted in rage, clashing with fellow patients in the secure unit. Nurses intervened, pinning him down and administering Haloperidol, a drug once banned in psychiatry. He then slept for three days.
Today, as a single father of two teenage girls and a full-time artist just north of Dublin, Ireland, Dale shows us that hope and redemption are possible, no matter what scars.
He now creates hopeful abstract art, at peace with himself, and feels privileged to raise his children alone. These experiences have made him stronger, more sane, kind-hearted, original, and talented, illustrating that art is a powerful tool for rehabilitation. Reclaiming a life through art.
A recent heavily textured large work on 400gmpaper (A0), for more info
www.vermingraffiti.com/sign-up

[drip]

Thank you, kaym , for sharing these insights into some of the more difficult moments in Dale's life. Being an artist, eking out a living as an artist, is not easy at the best of times. And losing your mental edges after listening to Oasis, simply cannot be the best of times.

I can only imagine what Dale felt hearing Oasis might be getting back together.

We'll all struggle, especially if you're an artist, with our own mental health challenges at some point, some for longer than others. And the only way we can take away some of the stigma surrounding these times, the fear, the embarrassment and undeserved shame, that we often put on ourselves, is to talk about it openly and honestly.

And for that, and moments like this, I sincerely thank Dale and whoever else is able and willing to share these mental health experiences with the rest of us.

Art is a great way to get the inside stuff out. Even when you feel like all your foundations are gone, just gone, and you're in complete mental freefall, no future, no past, barely a present, art will still be there, as an opportunity to express yourself.

It's why they go through a shit-tonne of crayons and paper in the mental institutions.

It offers you a language without words, it gives you expression, a sense of control, creation, and heck, it can even offer you a living. And I hope that's what it's offering Dale and his family these days.

I still have the painting I created with Dale's guidance during his workshop class at the The Herbert in Coventry. I'm not sure whether the class was The Herbert's idea, Dale's, or if it was something he was contractually obliged to do so or not, but he led the class with good grace, humour, and kindness.

He was nice, soft-spoken, and patient. Which isn't usually that easy for folk spending a few hours in my company. I have fond memories of him and that day.

There aren't many things I would grab during a house fire, but that painting, along with myself, the passports, and the dog's ashes, is one them.

Dale has always produced vibrant, interesting, sometimes challenging, art. He's one of those artists I'm always happy to see new work from, and to see what they're up to. I wish him all the best and hope to see much more of his work, both now and in the future. Cheers.

[kaym]

Thankyou Drip, Dale will try to DM you here tomorrow, given time. 

[kaym]

This is the thing with mental illness, an artist talks about a record that sent him into a life long change and days later Oasis announce a comeback after all these years? The truth is stranger than fiction.