Ray Mumford

Ray Mumford is an airbrush artist. He is widely considered to be one of the most innovative airbrush artists in the world. He has also created some of the world's most successful holographic images and been involved in music management, recording and production. He has written many magazine articles.
He also gives talks on his life and work. Ray Mumford’s work has appeared in exhibitions, magazines and books, on TV, cars, motorcycles, vans, racing cars, and buildings. He is the only person ever to receive the approval of the original maker of Rolls Royce cars for his artwork on their vehicles.
Early life
Mumford grew up in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex and attended Southend School of Art in the late 1960s.
Career
He was the East Anglian co-ordinator for Friends Of The Earth and he continues to campaign on environmental issues, still being a member of ‘Greenpeace’. His first major work on cars was ‘French Connection’, a complete departure from the ‘customizing’ norm, featuring scenes of Paris with pastel shades on a Ford Mustang in 1975. His first work on a Rolls Royce was a Corniche convertible featuring artwork of Holkham Hall in Norfolk.
Rolls Royce featured his work on a second Rolls Royce, a Silver Shadow, in their own ‘Rolls Royce Journal’ the only time they have ever approved artwork on one of their vehicles. He created artwork, on a Chevrolet Corvette, of a pin-ball machine where the flipper and ball appeared to move. It was influenced by the film Tommy. It is believed this was bought by Roger Daltrey of the Who.

Ray was asked to design the livery for the Led Zeppelin Boeing 707 although later the project was dropped after the death of John Bonham in 1980. He designed and painted a road going formula racing car to publicise the first 24-hour race in the UK. After meeting the hugely respected holographer Jeff Blyth he worked with Jeff to produce some of the best selling silver halide holograms.
Ray has a great love of music and managed a band named ‘The Principle’. They went on to become ‘The View from Without’ which won the Rock Competition in the late 80’s. He helped produce an acclaimed album of the same name, which was never released as the band split. In 1992 Ray was asked by a friend, Glen Burrell a Police ARV officer, to help undertake a Mercy Mission, driving a 40-foot HGV full of supplies to war-torn Bosnia. They did not wait to join a planned convoy, which was leaving in December, instead they set off alone in November.
He was involved in the development of a range of sound amplifiers and designed the innovative ’light bending’ front panel and controls. The hi-fi amplifier was acclaimed by HI-FI World magazine as being the best available at the price. One of his more recent works was his design and artwork on a ‘slingshot’ dragster called ‘Excalibur’.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu