Artist creates huge sand drawing of the band Sparks on Burnham-on-Sea beach
A Somerset sand artist has created a huge drawing of the band Sparks on a beach near Burnham-on-Sea, to celebrate an upcoming film.
Simon Beck from Taunton drew brothers Ron & Russell Mael on the beach at Brean, to mark the release of a new documentary about the Californian art pop duo.
The Taunton-based artist created the geometrical designs using a rake and a magnetic compass, and hopes the work will draw attention to the release of The Sparks Brothers.
The new documentary is directed by Edgar Wright, who grew up in Wells and famously used the town as the location of his comedy action film, Hot Fuzz.
But his latest film explores the career of the hugely influential band who first came to prominence in the UK in 1974 with the hit single This Town Ain’t Big Enough For Both Of Us and who have now released 25 genre-defying albums in their extraordinary 50 year career.
Speaking about the artwork in Somerset, the two musicians said: "We’ve seen fan art, Sparks tattoos, Sparks fashion design, Sparks cosplay, etc., etc., but this is absolutely amazing in its scope and ambition.
"The remoteness of the location and the temporal quality of the beach sand drawings only adds to the sheer stunning head shaking quality of it all.
"Yikes. Coming soon to a beach near you."
But this drawing is not Simon Beck's first, having become a familiar figure by creating artworks on beaches up and down the south west.
The former cartographer created his first design on snow in the Alps in 2004, before creating his first sand design in 2014.
The 62-year-old then went on to create many more, with the portrait of Sparks actually being his 175th work on the beach at Brean alone.
Watch the trailer for 'The Sparks Brothers', from Somerset director Edgar Wright: