Liverpool artist created a unique pop art gift for Reds fan Lana Del Rey

A Liverpool artist created a unique pop art gift for singer Lana Del Rey as a memento of her Anfield gig.

Austin Wilde designed a giant badge, featuring the Reds’ famous YNWA in gold leaf with the date of the concert, which was given to her backstage.

Lana, who has previously revealed she is a Reds fan, has a long-standing connection to the club.

She visited Anfield over a decade ago to watch to a match against Spurs after being introduced to Liverpool by her manager Ben.

The New Yorker went on to record a version of You’ll Never Walk Alone that appears in The End of the Storm documentary about Liverpool’s 2019/20 Premier League-winning season.

When she returned for the huge stadium gig, Austin decided to mark the occasion with a one-off artwork.

Although, as he explains, it wasn’t his first encounter with the singer. 

He said:

“I was creative director of EMI Music Publishing for a while when she was first signed – and her manager Ben is a good mate.

“When Lana covered You’ll Never Walk Alone for The End of the Storm documentary, a 7” single arrived in the post with a gloriously profane message she’d written to me. I thought I’d repay the favour.”

When it came to creating the design Austin, who lives in Waterloo, combined his signature pop art with music influences and a self-confessed obsession with vintage badges.

“The design for it was based on an idea I had a while back; Y.N.W.A is only one letter away from N.W.A and the font used forms their logo: selling out a stadium tour is a gangster thing to do. The particular gold leaf used has a deep red glow to it, which is nice.”

51-year-old Austin began developing his style as a teenager.

“I was 13 when hip-hop happened; it was my generation’s punk. I started writing graffiti because I was a s**t rapper and not much of a dancer. Graffiti sits at the root of my love for lettering. 

“Separate from the graphical elements of lettering and the craft of painting it, I enjoy working with text because it’s quite direct: you can’t unread something. This has an immediate power, secondary to portraiture, similar to propaganda.

“I’m obsessed with the design of protest art: sew-on patches, Mai ’68 posters, anti-war and anti-racist placards, Miners’ strike paraphernalia, US military insignia – but especially vintage badges. 

“When someone asks me what I’d do if l won the lottery, my answer’s always the same: buy my body weight in vintage badges on eBay.”

The big badge artworks, which are 80cms in diameter, were first created for an exhibition in Liverpool.

“In 2023, I had an exhibition at Buyers Club entitled ‘I DID A BAAAD THING. America’s Problem: Power & Money’ and I first produced the badges for that. 

“They’re cut from marine plywood, convex sanded and painted in enamel paints and gilded with 23ct gold leaf on the front and the pin is gilded in silver on the reverse. They’re something I do when I’m not painting murals or signs.

“The designs for the badges are mostly historical. Snoopy has become something of a customer favourite, in part because Snoopy was a mascot for the recon missions in the Vietnam war – but maybe mostly because I have a white dog called Aggy, from Carla Lane, whom I love very much.”   

Austin is currently working on paintings for a new exhibition called The Cold War is So Hot Right Now.

Find out more information about commisions on Austin’s website.

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