Fiona Jones Wall of Sound Collection
1999-2004
The Wall of Sound record company played an integral role shaping Banksy’s career.
The London-based music label, run by Mark Jones, provided the artist with steady work creating album covers, allowing him direct access with musicians and giving Banksy a large West London studio space where he could practice his art and relax, away from police officers when they pursued him for vandalism.
Although Banksy was provided a studio space to work within, this was a shared space for a while. Fiona Doran, aka Fiona Jones – wife of Mark Jones, shared Banksy’s space with him before he later found his own space and she took the space over in its entirety.
Fiona designed all the costumes for Wall of Sound’s bands’ music videos, while Banksy designed their album covers; Fiona has also designed for Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Duran Duran and The Scissor Sisters.
Both creatives shared the studio at times and collaborated on ideas and critiqued each other’s works too. They got on very well, until Banksy decided to move out into a bigger creative space in 2003. By this time in his career, he managed to help open the Pictures on Walls printing studio and store and was making good money selling his works, as his buzz, reputation, and collectability, was growing exponentially in the art market.
Both Fiona and Banksy can be seen on Wall of Sound’s ‘10 Years of Wall of Sound’ album cover. Even Mark and Fiona’s son George is featured on the cover as a toddler. Fiona is seen adjusting a costume, while Banksy spray paints a wall in the background.
The collection of works on display here include:
1) A hand-cut glasses stencil mask that Banksy created for Fiona’s son George. This was created as a gift for his birthday and has swirly eye shapes penciled and cut into where the lenses would be. You can also see a glue-smudged fingerprint left behind by Banksy in the frame’s centre.
2) A rare collection of seven instant photos taken by Fiona, around Banksy’s studio in the early 2000s. You can see candid shots of fashion models, including UK TV and radio presenter Zoe Ball, posing in various positions around the artist’s space. There are some early Banksy paintings on the walls and amongst the clutter, paintings on wood and canvases.
3) There are three rare postcards, two of which, promoting the Sizzler Guerilla Art Show that was orchestrated in May 2001 in Brick Lane, East London. The first is the ‘Dynamite Ice Cream’ where the chocolate flake has been replaced with an explosive, and second, the Sizzler Grande Finale music party August promo postcard, featuring an ice cream van. The final postcard features a ‘Rose Trap’, a twist on a Valentine love message – originally sprayed on a wall in Bristol in the late 1990s.
4) Two booklets published by Banksy. ‘Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall’, published by him in 2001, featuring many photographs of his murals from the time, and a second publication, ‘Existencilism’, published in June 2002 and missing its cover, which too features his works including a ‘Rude Copper’. Both magazines were personally owned by Banksy and used for his reference.
Once Banksy finally moved away into his new space, he gifted Fiona several of his works and some of his paints and materials, which he left behind for her in studio.
The building where the West London studio space is, has since been remodeled into modern office workspaces and unfortunately, the studio no longer exists.