One Love a Punk hotsell Self Portrait as Jim Cartwright's Skinlad Artist's Hand Painted Print on Canvas Made to Order in Four Sizes

One Love punk self portrait Artist's Hand Painted Prints are taken from the original painting One Love by Derbyshire based Scottish artist John McDonald.

One love is a high quality digital print of the artist's original painting, which is then lovngly hand painted by the artist including detail and larger area work.

This means that every portrait is unique and looks like a real painting. One Love is made to order for you, in a size to suit your room and budget, and includes the artist's authentic signature. After signing the work is twice varnished to protect from dust and UV light.

The painting depicts a skinhead man pointing accusingly, with his feet hidden by a road-works barrier. The figure is painted mainly in black and white with light blue wash on the jeans.

To the left we see a building with the word 'Bank' on the side of it. And beneath that is a small hand painted depiction of Banksy's little girl with red balloon (re-titled Love is in the Bin after famous shredding at auction).

One Love is a self portrait and an unusual one in that it depicts the artist over 20 years ago- not as himself - but as a character in a play.

The portrait is taken from a hotsell still image from a performance of Jim Cartwright's gritty northern play, Road. Skinlad, the character played by the artist, performs a poetic monologue about fighting, about a skinhead-culture of violence. He believes fighting is all there is to live for until one night when he has a mysterious encounter.

For the artist the painting references the violence of his own early years growing up in 1960s Glasgow, and the additional risks of living in that world as a child with a disability.

Like many of John's paintings which have hidden symbols or hidden extra meanings, One Love also references issues both personal and political.

The artist's studio is based in a heritage building in Derby: Banks Mill, owned and leased by the University of Derby. Banks Mill was historically a rope factory and the original paintwork 'Banks & Sons Ltd' can be seen peeling off the corner brickwork over 4 floors.

One Love is a protest painting in all sorts of ways. By effective use of scale the artist becomes a giant towering over both the art institution, and the Bank. As a disability protest it's easy to identify a belief in the social model of disability - yes the actor is beset by a barrier but look how small the barrier is in comparison with the man.

The inclusion of Banksy's little girl with the red heart balloon (for which the artist has consent) begs a few questions. Perhaps the little girl offers love to the angry skinhead, but there is also the sense that gender and age stereotypes may be turned on their heads. If you cover the balloon the little girl starts to look pretty angry herself... And we wonder if both anger and love are shared. Maybe it is a righteous indignation rather than one that threatens violence.