Vic Reeves does art now too. Yes, the tall one off Shooting Stars. Actually, he's been doing it for a while - and now he's a sleb he's got a platform to make people look at it. We love his comedy, and so naturally hoped he'd be a dab hand with the oils too. In order to find out, we sent Ellie Wallis to the opening of his show, Where Eagles Tremble. Please don't be shit Vic!

The opening night at Mews of Mayfair's small gallery was a lively affair. The event was an eye-opener into celebrity art, but also a surprising glance at Reeve’s first discovered talent.

The new pieces are based on a fictional story penned by Reeves that briefly describes the life and career of a film actor called Alan Todd. Todd’s life spans from 1916 through to 1983 when, while filming, he flies off in his plane never to be seen again. This comic tale describes various films that Todd makes including WW2 flicks titled Scum, Tomorrow’s Wind and Luftwaffe Love School; the last of which, Todd boasts, helped raise morale so high that it can actually take credit for Britain winning the war. Reeves aims to create a repugnant yet loveable character whose antics and film roles create an amusing and mysterious character. There may well be a little bit of Reeves in Alan Todd.

Alan

The accompanying illustrations are displayed as oil paintings of various sizes, which look like basic movie posters for the various features Todd acts in throughout his bizarre life. The Onanist (see above) is the title of the final movie Todd is shooting before he flies off forever; onanist meaning ‘one who masturbates’ or in common slang ‘wanker’. The monochrome tones and brooding clouds give the painting atmosphere and solemnity which denotes Todd’s final curtain call and supposed death. But knowing Todd’s story makes even this tragic scene humourous. Flying off into the horizon never to return is such a silly way to go. We have no sense of how or if Todd died - he simply just disappears.

Return to the Gayport 2

Reeves attended art college in 1983, a few years before he moved to London and started his alternative comedy night in New Cross where he met Bob Mortimer. Although his art took a back seat while his comedy and singing career kicked off in the early 90s, he has been making money from his art for years. Earlier pieces on sale online include paintings of curious looking birds (he’s a keen bird watcher) and strange characters described by short lines of text. Reeves’s surreal and ironic humour clearly shines through in a subtle and charming way. He is a caricaturist at heart and loves to point out and invent the idiosyncrasies in people and anything else he can characterise. It's very accessible work as it neither relies on great knowledge of art to understand it or a high level of intelligence - just a sense of humour.

From Whence They Came

Vic only managed a few mumbled sentences about his art to me. Misguidedly I asked him if one of his pieces, From Whence They Came, was drawing on an Italian Renaissance painting I had recently been admiring in the Louvre in Paris. The painting shows people falling from the heavens. "No no love, the pilot’s just chucking the men out the plane," laughs Reeves. Here was the clearest example of why not to take his art too seriously. Lesson learnt.

Vic and Noel

Earlier on Noel Fielding, one of Reeves’s die hard followers and fellow artists, mooched in subtly wearing a bright green Hawaiian shirt and black top hat. He asked me if any of it had been sold and if it had, how would one know. He later spent over four thousand pounds on Vic’s trendy art. No doubt the rest will sell well.

To have a proper look at the exhibition visit www.eyestorm.com