Over the past four years
Art Space Portsmouth has been sponsored to install an ongoing programme of exhibitions at
1000 Lakeside, a large business centre in the area. This time I have chosen to exhibit the above paintings Gamine and Ingenue (Olga Korbut and Nadia Comaneci). Although I made these paintings some years ago - I have never had the opportunity to show them for reasons I cannot explain! They just never had their opportunity - which is a shame for such iconic stars! However, I am now really pleased to see them installed in a new space, to see them afresh. Although they are two separate paintings - I now feel that they must never be separated and perhaps I should insist they are a diptych. They work together - and must remain together - they work conceptually as a pair (and not so much in isolation). So I guess if someone was to purchased one - I would now have to insist that they have both! For me paintings like these, over time, take on their own personality - these two are companions and MUST remain so.
In the past I have made many paintings about Eastern Bloc gymnastics, for example, a painting installation called 'Little girls in pretty boxes'. I am pleased to be able to say that this series has been shown on a few occasions.
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| Part of the series: Little girls in pretty boxes |
"This work, in part, addresses the issue of
sport once used as a tool for political propaganda and the abuse of teenage
girls in the pursuit of this goal. The images are snatched from video footage
of gymnastic events during the golden age of the sport, where impish
super-stars won the hearts and minds of their audience.
Captivated by their vulnerability,
television audiences became voyeuristic as they unknowingly colluded in the
manipulation of these child women. These romanticised images of young ‘super
beings’ tap into a fantasy of perfection, capturing an essence of a time, which
beyond the imagery has many different facets from the personal and nostalgic to
the political. These young athletes remain unchanged, forever young and
haunting in our memories. However, behind the façade of rehearsed expressions
and conditioned routines is the reality of rigorous hard work, lost childhood
and aching bodies.
Olga Korbut ‘flew’ to fame at the 1972
Olympic games in Munich and is arguably still the most iconic gymnast of all
time - 40 years later. Forever encapsulated as a smiling 17-year-old woman in a
petit ‘elfin-like’ body."
This work was included in a group show in 2007 '
Sugar and Spice' at
Vegas gallery, curated by Ken Pratt. There is some interesting text
here about the artists included in this exhibition.
