Life Lessons Of The Utility Man. 2013. This is a painting of Leeds United legend Paul Madeley, who was so talented he could play virtually anywhere on the pitch and did so with humility and without regard for his own career (he would probably have played many more times for England had he stuck to one position). He played in the great Leeds teams of the late 60s and early 70s. I always felt an affinity with Madeley, that desire to prove wrong the old cliché “jack of all trades, master of none”. He turned versatility into an art form, something to be enjoyed in itself - my own ‘career’ has followed a meandering Madley-esque experiment in several different fields. The concept of the Zentral defender is that Madeley, in his ego-less way, attempted to transcend our obsession with roles, formations and positions, unconsciously mirroring what was going on in Dutch football at the time. And, of course, my mum fancied him.
I Am Eric. 2010. This painting attempts to see into the sad-eyed, sardine loving soul of Eric Cantona. With his slightly confusing football-exisentialist philosophy, Eric can be seen as a direct descendent of Sartre, Camus and Jimmy Greenhoff. Of course, Eric would say that only Eric should do paintings of Eric. The underpainting of red, yellow and golds was applied using fingers and bits of paper. The initial subject painting was done using a palette knife. I used tons of black paint for his eyebrows and stubble, hence the huge cost of this painting. Acrylic on canvas, 30cm x 40cm
Dick Krzywicki 2012 Acrylic on canvas 25cm x 35cm From my ongoing Great Lincolnshire Footballers series. Obviously Dick Krzywicki wasn’t born in Lincolnshire – everyone knows he comes from Flintshire. But he played in Graham Taylor’s legendary mid 70s Lincoln City side. For a small fee I will doctor one of the prints to put him in WBA colours.
