Cash My Gold SUKKA! (The A-Team)

I’m sure I’m not alone with this one, but I bloody loved the A-Team as a kid! Classic Saturday TV memories with the family and I loved and lived every minute of every episode. I have previously created two A-team pieces; ‘Soldiers of Fortune’ was created back in 2016 and sold as an original piece whilst ‘A-Division’ was a commission. The van has featured within pieces such as ‘Petrolheads’ but I have been itching to create an image that can be available as a general release so here it is SUKKAS!

The two pieces previously captured the team’s love for creating intricate and bizarre weapons and vehicles from cabbages and egg boxes, whilst also referencing their previous roles in the US military and I love both pieces. For this image I wanted to do something different, so I planned to move the timeline forward to a period after the characters have moved on.

My favourite character was B.A Baracus, what a nutter! Apart from Pat Butcher, he was the only one capable of carrying off those whopping great big earrings! He was a unit, wasn’t he?! Probably from all that milk he drank, I guess if his hate for milk was like his fear of planes then all he would have been good enough was to play for the 'Owd Reds. Accrington Stanley, who are they? Exactly!

So, I tried to get inside Mr T’s head to see what he would probably do with all his free time and apart from becoming a boxer, (that wouldn’t work would it surely?) I thought he could continue with his love for all things gold and glittery and set up a gold mine out in the middle of nowhere where surely no one could find him, or could they?

A rickety, towering gold mine expands up from the desert that looks to be as sturdy as one of the old A-Team TV sets. Yet just look at the operation that is going on here under the name ‘FOOLS GOLD’ (you see what I did there?). Rail carts stand on their tracks full of gold, it looks like business has come to a grinding halt, is there a mole within the tumbleweed or just a jackal?

Although so much has been left for your interpretation, one thing is clear and that is B.A’s empire is under attack from above as wave after wave of attacks rain down from the sky. But hold on, the classic Corvette is being carried away by the military Chinook, is everyone on the same side here? Is he out on his own, did he cut his ties back then or has his comrades answered his call for one last battle? Blacked out windows leave everything open to your imagination.

A key component of the classic series was the constant over the top drama that played out, how many vehicles were flipped over and blown up by them lobbing sticks of dynamite at any opportunity? Yet did anyone ever not make it out of their flattened or burning jeep? I have paid homage to this by creating a cracking sense of drama and movement to contrast with the static objects laid out in front of you to decipher.

Bigger isn’t always better and that is shown with the role that the iconic A-Team van plays within the scene and its composition. It is such a bloody brilliant vehicle that looks great up close but I have done this within ‘Petrolheads’ and didn’t want to replicate this so, instead it is doing ‘doughnuts’ in the desert, but driven by who?

There have been a few calls to include a ‘big rig’ within a piece and I love what is happening here. I remember the time when they converted a rig to become a battering ram, it just looked immense. So, in true A-Team style I have got the virtual angle grinder and blow torch out and created my own. Look closely and you will spot whose truck this is! I love the end results, it has a ‘Mad Max’ quality to it, now there’s food for thought.

I avoided watching the big screen movie remake as I prefer to keep my memories unspoilt but always enjoy watching old episodes. With the exception of when Leeds used to come out onto the pitch to ‘Eye of the tiger’, I can’t think of many better intros than the theme tune to the A-Team. I only take on a subject if it resonates with me and if I feel that I can bring something different to the subject and most importantly do it justice and I can whole-heartedly say that I have thrown everything at it. It has brought so many special memories back to the surface.

I love it when a plan comes together!

That’s all folks!