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Simon Claridge has described himself as a pop artist, and in much of his work the influence of Warhol and his Pop Art peers, Roy Lichtenstein and David Hockney can be seen - in the areas of flat colour, the choice of colour palette in fact, and even subject matter. Pop artists, a disparate bunch though they were, did have a common fascination with popularity, with ‘low’ (popular) culture, with appearanceand surface.

Simon Claridge prints replicate his original paintings so beautifully partly due to the fact that the images are built up using flat areas of colour, like the pop artists. Form seems to come second to the planes of colour and the effect that juxtaposition of these causes. In this case, one can assume that Simon Claridge in his use of diamond dust, is making reference to Warhol’s work. This is reinforced by the fact that Simon Claridge has painted Marilyn Monroe as one of his Diamond Dust stars. Famously immortalised by Andy Warhol, she is the most iconic of 20^th century women.

As well as Marilyn, The Simon Claridge Diamond Dust print collection also pays tribute to Brigitte Bardot, Kate Moss and Twiggy.