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Artist
statement - an exhibition of
two halves-1996 |
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As the original statement I wrote for the above show at The Willesden Green Gallery, has now been lost, here is a reflective look I wrote the following year of work produced relating to art & football My work over the past few years has dealt with my/our relationship to place and environment, influenced by my own personal dwelling and history in both England and the USA, and large scale urban settlements in general. Concurrent to this activity the theme of sport, and in particular football, has appeared regularly in my work, initially focusing on the citadel of the stadium within the community in pieces such as 'The build up to the 3 'o' clock thrill'. More recently a body of work was commissioned to coincide with the 'Euro 96' championships. These focus on such issues as-: symbolic images of 1970's football, such as goal stanchions, that are indelibly stamped within my subconscious. Observations of the forgotten culture of pre Taylor Report stadiums, found via an imaginary archaeological dig in the future. 'Once there was an England' focuses on the 'illusions de grandeur' created by the reflected glory from English football's finest hour in 1966 and it's wider metaphor for national xenophobia, and England's resistance to changing the status quo. The works consist of painting, sculpture and other mixed media pieces. |
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