'Destination Smithfield' - new work

A new project is starting - Nocturne - which will be on show at the London Nocturne 2012, 9th June, 2012. 'Destination Smithfield' will be sold via online auction, to raise money for charity. More soon.

LE TOUR [complete]

Homage to the dot, with John Baldessari

observation • influence • homage

The circular form is an inescapable presence within our existence. One sees it in the rising sun, a shining moon; the twinkle of an eye; the molecules that form our world.

Many artists have embraced this tangible pre-form as a modular means to communicate a variety of messages about the world that we live in.

18th July 1949. James Straffon, 2012.

The Banquet, Rene Magritte, c. 1958.

Two Highrises (with Disruptions)/Two Witnesses (Red and Green), John Baldessari, 1990.

Beach Scene/Nuns/Nurse (with Choices), John Baldessari, 1991.

King of the Mountains limited edition prints - now available to buy

As a preview to the LE TOUR show, the limited edition King of the Mountains prints have been released for sale. 

This series features nine iconic 'climbing moments' from the Tour de France, and is available in an edition of nine archival pigment prints on Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308gsm. 
Buy from Snap Galleries HERE, before the show opens on 30th June. 

The first 'King of the Mountains' was René Pottier, in 1905. At that time this title was bestowed on the meilleur grimpeur (best climber). This continued until 1933, with the first recipient of the Grand Prix de la Montagne being Spaniard Vicente Trueba - a touriste-routier (independent rider without a professional contract). 

The highly recognisable maillot à pois rouges (polka dot jersey) first appeared in 1975 - the design courtesy of long-term Tour sponsor Chocolat Poulain (one of the oldest chocolate brands in France) with input from then Tour organiser Félix Lévitan. 

The first official mountain stage appeared in 1910, with the introduction of the Pyrénées, and Le Col du Tourmalet. Having conducted a recce for the proposed climb, Alphonse Steines, sports journalist and assistant to Tour organiser Henri Desgrange, cabled back "Tourmalet crossed. Stop. Very good road. Stop. Perfectly acceptable. Stop. Steinès." The first rider over the summit was Octave Lapize, who famously cried at the race organisers "Vous êtes des assassins! Oui, des assassins." The Alps arrived in 1911, with the Col de Galibier, about which Desgrange wrote "Oh Col Bayard, Oh Col Tourmalet… beside the Galibier you are nothing…"

LE TOUR Exhibition book

I'm very pleased to announce a partner in the LE TOUR Exhibition - Rapha Racing. Their support and connoisseurship will push the accompanying book into the realms of the precious, and beautiful. Designing and co-writing such a piece demands a very different set of working parameters to producing the artworks themselves. Watch this space.

Le Pois Rouges - limited edition print series

The Polka Dot jersey (Pois Rouges) is awarded to the Tour's 'King of the Mountains'. A limited edition series of nine prints has been created for the LE TOUR show, these featuring some of the famous climbs, and the duels which were played out on their hallowed slopes.

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Major Tom

Bespoke Classic Bike Company Foffa Bikes have launched a competition which invites entrants to create a 'dream design'.  My entry is Major Tom.

The Foffa Bikes competition forms part of an action packed programme for the night of the IG London Nocturne, at which I will be presenting a unique artwork, to be auctioned on the night.

Don't push the riders

observation • influence • homage

Directed by Louis Malle, 1962. Running time 18 minutes.

LE TOUR [update]

Creating work on such a scale, centred around the contours of France, has become quiet a physical process. The studio work surface now eclipsed by the artwork and its form.

As a result, in the 'making', one gets a vicarious sense of what the Tour de France represents - a sinuous race, reaching out to all corners of the milieu on which it traces its roots.

A scenario inspired by the topology of the place

observation • influence • homage

Choir of Saint-Hilaire Church, Melle, France 2011.

Designed by Industrial Designer and Interior Architect Mathieu Lehanneur.

"I imagine that when this 'box' was sunk into the ground as if pushed by an invisible, maybe divine hand, it revealed the geology of it, the visible aspect of a mineral and massive form: a revelation which seems anterior, and not posterior, to the construction of the church."

Hors Catégorie

Ventoux. Tourmalet. Aubisque. Galibier.

The cols mark the business end of any given Tour de France. They rise up and separate the contenders from the peloton's massed ranks. They magnify the differences. Turn seconds into minutes. And make provision for high drama, set against spectacular mountain vistas.

Graded by a category system, it is the Hors Catégorie (beyond categorisation) climbs which punctuate the Tour's passage through the Alps, Pyrénées or Massif Centrale regions. These are the numbers which count. And given their historical significance, become a critical component of the LE TOUR frame decoupage.

LE TOUR [a work in progress]

The body of work for the LE TOUR show is nearing completion.

At one stage my proposed list of inclusions seemed a daunting prospect. I've never before created works in tandem; previously focussing on one creation at a time. So some new knowledge has been a pleasant side-effect of a tight schedule - the scope for a given artwork to 'gestate'. By this, I refer to the pause which has evolved, as one prepared artwork sits while another is begun. Previously I would move through the phases of each piece, finally arriving at the brush-in-hand sign off.

Yet now I find the extra time that I 'live' with an artwork, in its expectant state, the better formed are my decisions on colour, composition, and story-telling. Those previously 'accidental' moments of 'devine' execution now less of a wonderful thing, more of a constituent feature.

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Through the round window...

Disques 1

The core precept behind the LE TOUR exhibition is that of devotional imagery. Be they modern-day saints and apostles, or perhaps angels (as in the case of Charly Gaul), the riders selected present a gallery of reverential regard.

This 'mechanics of worship' is significant within pieces such as 3DDY - which incorporates a vintage GAF Viewmaster, and has the viewer 'looking to the light' - their gaze falling on the victorious travails of Eddy Merckx. Here, the house of god, in the palm of your hand. Perhaps. Extracting some of the frames from the three 'disques' used in this piece, I have formed reinterpretations of the Rose (or Catherine) window, frequently located at the north or south transepts of a cathedral. These radial, spoked compositions reposition the subject into a cyclic framework. Modern-day icons, captured within the vernacular of worship.

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3DDY

GAF Viewmaster frames deconstructed to form schema.

Papà Fausto

For the LE TOUR exhibition, I am keen to present a divergent gallery of artworks. By this I refer to the stories that my pieces tell. So its not simply a roll-call of the great-and-good; a cyclorama of winners; a tribute performance. More an overall vision of the many facets of this sporting event.

One such piece is Papà Fausto.

It tells of the emotional bond between father and daughter - Fausto and Marina Coppi. Broken in January 1960, when 'Il Campionissimo' tragically died of malaria. Marina was only twelve.

Fifty years later, Marina Coppi was able to open her feelings about her father. And speak with author Paolo Viberti. The result was 'Coppi Segreto' (Secret Coppi), published to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the cyclist's death.

"When I was very small I did not realise who my father was, for me it was simply a joy to be next to him. I realised that for him the bicycle was an an important object, like a musical instrument for an artist. Papà was always around so many people screaming and urging him on... Coppi! Coppi! Everybody wanted something from him, to greet him, to touch him, even to have a nod of acknowledgment. I was not so bad in all that chaos, often finding it amusing, though sometimes I would have wanted my papà all for me. ..."