Making his Marc

About the painting

I started work on this canvas quite early on in the MotoGP season. Marc was already a formidable rider with an impressive list of championship titles to his name, but like everyone I was blown away by his performance in the first race of the premier class season when he diced against Valentino Rossi. At that very moment I think we all felt that we were witnessing the start of the ‘changing of the guard’ and Marquez was something very, very special.

The painting took shape over a number of months, interspersed by several periods filming abroad. It was a personal piece rather than a commission, therefore I had free reign to paint whatever inspired me and although I initially toyed with idea of capturing the more obvious Marquez signature of ‘elbow touching tarmac’, it never quite came alive as a composition. On film it is stunning to watch, but as a static moment in time my sketches were not capturing the awesome dominance and body language of this supremely talented young rider. At that extreme angle, much of the bike and his body fall into shadow and it did not leap out at me in a powerful riot of colour. I chose to paint Marquez rising over the crest of the track in a trail of heat haze, powering out of the bend with his front wheel airborne. I personally love this composition as I feel it really captures Marc’s raw talent and his sheer determination to stamp his mark in the premier class ….and subsequently make his mark in history. 

The facts that go down in history:

• At the age of 20 years and 266 days, Marquez is the youngest rider of all time to win the world title in the premier class.
• Marquez is just the fourth rider in the 65-year history of Grand Prix racing to win the world title in three different categories, along with Mike Hailwood, Phil Read and Valentino Rossi.
• Marquez has finished in the top three 16 times in 2013 – the greatest number of podium finishes ever recorded by a rookie in the premier class.
• He qualified on pole position nine times in 2013 – the greatest number of pole positions ever by a rookie in the premier class.
• At the second race of 2013 he became the youngest ever winner of a premier class Grand Prix race and the youngest rider to start from pole. Until now Freddie Spencer held the records since 1982.
• His points total of 334 is the greatest number of points ever achieved in a rookie season in the premier class.

Facts supplied courtesy of the official website: www.motogp.com

My thanks go to Jean Francois Monier for kindly supplying me with the photographic reference for this painting.