The Twelfth Man PRESS RELEASE STRICT EMBARGO 9th May 2013 It is perhaps an image that encapsulates the greatest ‘dream team’ we could ever wish for. George Best, Bryan Robson, Bobby Charlton, just a few of the eleven men who make up Royal Mail’s greatest football heroes. On May 9th they will become the stars of a new set of stamps launched to commemorate 150 years of the Football Association. But behind the scenes there’s a twelfth man in this ultimate squad, equally as gifted but with a talent belonging in a different field. He’s not a sub, nor a manager, not a coach but an artist. Andrew Kinsman is the man who was chosen to create the image that’s set to accompany correspondence around the world. The self taught artist took five months to complete the commission from Royal Mail, a 1.5m x 2.3m oil on wooden board, which has been condensed to fit onto a postage stamp. “It was such an honour receiving this commission on two main counts. Obviously, for an artist to have his work reproduced on a Royal Mail stamp is an honour enough but the subject matter is one very close to my heart. As a child I either wanted to become an artist or a goalkeeper and so would spend my time off the pitch drawing my favourite players. Some of these players are now on the stamps. It was a complete nostalgia.” The launch of the stamps comes during the busiest year of Andrew’s career to date, and his talent doesn’t stop at the easel. His second love is music. When he’s not with paintbrush, he’s with saxophone. In the last year he’s played two Arena tours with Noel Gallagher and his band ‘High Flying Birds’ appearing on Jules Holland, the NME Awards and headlining the recent ‘Teenage Cancer Trust’ gig at the Royal Albert Hall. Andrew has also recorded soundtracks and performed alongside Kasabian, The Levellers and Super Furry Animals among others. He’s played at venues including The London Coliseum, Brixton Academy, The Barbican Centre and V-Festival where he performed in front of an 85,000 strong crowd. In 2010 Andrew was featured on the soundtrack of London Boulevard, a film starring Colin Farrell, Keira Knightley and Ray Winstone having recorded the theme song ‘The Green Fairy’ with Kasabian. Bass player Chris Edwards speaks highly of his music and indeed his artwork as they too have been subjects of his paintings. " The detail and likeness was like a photograph, how he gets so much of this into his paintings is mind bending! I can't wait to see the new work he has produced for Royal Mail!" said Chris. “The art has always been there but when I discovered the thrill of performing I was hooked and I knew I would never be able to chose between the two.” Andrew said of his two creative careers. In between depicting legends and performing on stage Andrew he’s spent the winter months in Paris gathering reference material, sketches and photographs in preparation for his forthcoming solo exhibition ‘Fragile’ at the Signal Gallery, in Shoreditch, London. The show, which will be launched on June 13th, will feature a series of much anticipated paintings showing his subjects blowing bubbles. “The idea of painting bubbles came to me five years ago, as I observed a single bubble floating against a black backdrop. There was a dreamlike quality to this momentary distraction and I began to wonder if somehow I could transfer this to canvas.” Andrew sold his first painting at the age of just 12, since then his work has won him numerous awards. In 2011 Andrew was one of 35 artists featured in BBC2s “Show Me the Monet”. He’s completed commissions for royalty and celebrities alike. -Ends- Notes to Editors: Not for Publication before 9th May 2013 Further information, including a short biography, can be found by visiting www.andrewkinsman.com For filming/interview opportunities and further high resolution images please contact Sarah Beecroft on 07943 182868 or email: [email protected] © All rights reserved 2013 - Andrew Kinsman