A sixteen year old boy sits on a train. he's reading a book and has a painting wrapped in brown paper by his side. it's an old train. The carriage is tired and so is the boy and bored too, the book not withstanding.
The book is a famous book by a famous author with an even more famous painting on the paper cover. to be perfectly honest it is the cover that the boy has been drawn to and it is the reason he is reading it. It's a Penguin Modern Classic with the grey spine. This series of paper back books all have modern paintings on their covers.
The painting is by Salvador Dali and was, I am told, inspired by melting cheese. Peter perseveres with the text. he is determined to finish it and more to the point, be able to say he has read it. Mostly he has read marvel comics and also John Wyndham but he has a new friend who is working on his education.
So why is a sixteen year old boy reading Sartre in a tired railway carriage in Derby station? Why is there an oil painting size 40x30 inches sitting next to him? Why is he not in College or at work as it is a work day and not the weekend?
The facts are that he is dreamer and a fantasist. He dreams of being a famous artist and has entered his painting into the John Moores Painting prize the seventh in a series of biennial exhibitions intended to bring the latest in modern British painting to Liverpool.
Peter thinks his painting 'Self-Portrait With Blue Jacket' a quasi Cubist, Juan Gris-ish work will win the purchase prize of £5000 and that he will not have to work in an office anymore.
Is he wrong to dream? Is he ambitious? Is he brave or self-deluded? Is he any good? What chance does he stand at this point? What other chance does he have?
The last purchase prize went to David Hockney and now 'Peter' is getting out of Nick's.. in Liverpool.
On this day in 1969 this boy will travel a long way.. through the potteries, The Black Country, Runcorn and Widnes. He will see a crane lorry tipped up into a canal, the arse end of the Industrial Revolution, Holman Hunt's 'The Scape Goat, Alan Jones's 'Hermaphrodite' David Hockney's 'Peter getting Out Of Nick's Pool'.
He will deliver his painting to the receiving agents for the Walker Art Gallery. He will travel back home again undaunted but a little bored by Sartre and wondering what all the fuss was about. Will he win the big prize? Will he ever win anything ? Will he make it big? Will he make it pay? Will it all be worth it?
Find out more in the next instalment of..
