Abraxas & Abraxas Redux - the story
Compiled by Roger Foley-FOGG (with the assistace of Michael Organ) Martin Sharp, Abraxas , 1968. Acrylic on perspex. Collection: Roger Foley-Fogg. ABRAXAS by Martin Sharp was painted at The Pheasantry, London, during 1968. This was at the same time, and with the same technique, that Sharp painted the famous work EXPLOSION, featuring guitarist Jimi Hendrix. The original ABRAXAS painting was produced in a square format, 91 cm x 91 cm, on a thick sheet of perspex, using acrylic paints. Sharp applied paint to one side of the transparent material, and the finished work was viewed from the other side, through the perspex. Sharp's Australian colleague Phillippe Mora, who was also resident in the Pheasantry at that time, had started to experiment with the use of animation cells. He noted that: ' Martin liked the slick finish and started trying his hand. This progressed quickly and we got large perspex sheets... The black outline or other colour had to be done first.