Mark Ward, Black Country born artist and life-long Albion fan, paints iconic Pereira pose, in bid to raise money for Charity.
Avid football fan and supporter of West Bromwich Albion football club, Mark was inspired to create an oil painting of the superb celebration pose that Matheus Pereira pulled after scoring both his goals for West Brom against Wolves in January’s Premier League ‘Black Country Derby’ fixture at Molineux.
Albion achieved a memorable 3-2 victory on the day, despite their fans beginning to despair after slipping to 2-1 down and fully expecting a heavy defeat. However, West Brom battled back to eventually come out on top and defy the odds against their high flying Black Country rivals.
Mark is donating the original Painting, approved and signed by Pereira himself, to be put up for auction, with all the proceeds of the sale going to The Albion Foundationand the Jeff Astle Foundation, along with a target of raising a further £10,000 for the same two charities from the sale of a Limited Edition Print run of the original, with the first 50 prints also signed by Pereira.
“All Baggies fans are going to look back at this awful season and, to probably 99% of them, the brightest highlight will be beating Wolves in January, and that image of Pereira was just golden – even though he ‘borrowed’ the celebration from Charlie Austin!” Mark says of the iconic pose that the Albion player struck following both his goals.
“The Albion Foundation does fantastic work with the community, the disabled community and for youngsters” says Mark, when asked about his choice of charities “and as ‘King’ Jeff Astle is literally part of the life blood of Albion’s history and the Hawthorns, I wanted to make sure the Jeff Astle Foundation and the amazing work they are doing benefits from the fundraising as well”.
The original oil on canvas painting was a big hit with Matheus Pereira when he saw it and he has signed the canvas. This original, signed painting will be available to bid for via an Online Auction, from 2pm on Saturday 27thMarch 2021 , on Mark’s ‘ArtyMarks’ website, full details at artymarks.art/pereira/
Of the Limited Edition Prints of the painting, the first 50 (numbered 1-50) are also signed by Pereira and the Artist, and are available on a first-come, first-served basis. The remainder of the Limited Edition will be signed, numbered and certificated by the Artist. The Prints will also be available to purchase directly via Mark’s website – artymarks.art/product/prints-pereira/