1990 Charcoal. 60" x 92"
This large drawing is a portrait of my generation and the predicament we found ourselves in sometime in the early 1980s. We were from a culture that was born to work, and with unemployment in the region at record levels we felt no hope for the future. The setting is a bar in Pensnett and the traditional Blackcountry pastime of drinking is taking on a new dimension as we drink to oblivion. A friend is bloated beyond redemption and pours in a snakebite. Another looks in to his vodka, ready at any minute to explode. I once saw this very man grab some one and punch his face to a pulp for no other reason than he came from Gornal. Outside his van was turned upside down and pelted with paving slabs. The barman has a guilty conscience. In the foreground someone rolls a joint on a table where the words WOLVES NF are carved. Although unflattering this is the most accurate drawing of my year group at school and portrays the sense of despair that many of us felt at the time.
This work is available to buy. Ref. 1124
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