THE ARTIST IN RESIDENCE 31 : School

 bring back my glen-bott to me..

it's 1980..

and the artist has had his job made redundant..

instead of looking for a new one..

he paints this..

his latest idea..

of himself..

BRING BACK THE BOSTON RAG

another gentleman loser..

he longs to be back in school..

it's a girl thing..

maybe..

they say you can take the boy out of school..

but not the school out of the boy..

he is trapped in his past and all those moments..

LOST IN WONDER

that he'll never find again..

in the above painting..

it's 1965/66/67/68..

he is obsessed with American comic books..

and girls..

he is growing up with an alter ego..

a secret identity..

and there is no-one he can tell..

on the outside he is this milk toast..

panty waist..

on the inside there is..

    THE ARTIST IN RESIDENCE

in the picture above..

you can see the spidey sense half face half spidey mask..

this is the way he communicates..

with marvel comics character images..

the London art establishment won't ever geddit..

but why let facts get in the way of a good story..

he tells himself. they will all come around..

he hopes to at least get a job in the bull pen..

drawing comics..

he hasn't looked up yet and seen the..

sistine chapel ceiling..

but he will..

BORN BACK CEASELESSLY INTO THE PAST

he paints himself in his school uniform..

in the old school classroom..

with the old school radiators and glass panel doors..

a girl walks past without looking in..

she cannot see him..

the other boys look on..

and laugh..

but they are just boys..

they cannot see the developing artist..

they don't get that kind of education..

they are not one of us..

the believers..