Football and Art
Football and art have been part of my life since I can remember. Maybe art just shades it as being with me longer, but it’s a close run thing. I always remember my father telling me that we were destined to be art hooligans with the word hooligan not having the same connotations as it has now. His was a simple expression of how the supposed cultured world of art could sit quite happily with the apparently unsophisticated game of football. For him, the two danced well together.
The beauty of football is often as powerful and magnificent as the finest painting by Van Gogh, Hockney or Picasso (pick your own artist as I hope you get my point). Artistry features in both arenas as does ugliness and every other human trait imaginable, good and bad. Art and football reflect societal change and it’s often said that football is the working man’s game and that art is highbrow and socially distant from many football supporters. But of course this is a myth. Art is seen to be unattainable because rules that don’t exist are created by the art world and many of those in its environs. But many artists themselves are down to earth, often working-class and do not have the airs and graces of those that promote the art they create. It’s a dichotomy and one that should be easily addressed.
Art is for everyone. Often it’s the galleries that display the work that may not be for everyone. We have all had the experience of walking into a snooty gallery and feeling the sensation of not belonging within the environment. But art is yours and mine as much as it is theirs (the art cognoscenti – tongue firmly in cheek when bandying that phrase about!) We can all enjoy it as much as football.
With the tainted World Cup upon us we have gathered together a few football pieces together to show that art and football are fully alive and walking hand in hand together.
Click on any picture to find out more about each piece. First up is Ryan Callanan’s Acid Cup, which is his version of the number 1 prize in football and maybe we should be playing for this one. I’ll leave that one with you.
Next is something a little more traditional. The reason why we love football is the men and women who play it. For me growing up I just caught a glimpse of the legend that was Pele and then the mantle was handed over to the flawed genius that was Maradona. The idea of Pele was so magical and has always stayed that way. Pele is the epitome of World Cup football. (Although this glossy photo is hard to photograph!) And his signature is a work of art in its own right.
Ruskin Spear loved to paint sporting pictures and on a previous post we talked about this but this drawing is a portrait of L.S.Lowry and a football crowd. Is this the moment that Lowry was inspired to paint his famous Going to the Match? Who knows! But both these artists were inspired by the game.
And lest we forget, not everyone gets to play in a World Cup, irrespective of talent. George Best was considered to be the best player never to have played in a World Cup. A fight he couldn’t win and he never graced the world’s biggest stage. But what a player.
Football is more than ‘just a game’ and art is exactly the same! I love the two equally. I will leave you with this picture by Josef Herman which we have just put up on the site. Football is ours and so is art.
