ilka

In ‘the Bandwagon’ I pay homage to one of the great inspirations in my life. The theme of the exhibition was ‘Blood, Sweat and Tears’ and how the artist is often forced to give all three in the creation of art. Often with hardly any recognition or payback.

 

The phrase Blood, Sweat and Tears was made famous by Winston Churchill. John Winston Lennon, born on 9 October 1940, during an air-raid, as the legend goes* was named after the wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The fact that the band Blood, Sweat and Tears covered a Beatles song also helped.

 

Forty years later on 8th December 1980, Mark David Chapman was waiting outside the apartment of one John Lennon in New York City. Lennon gave the young man an autograph early in the day on the way out with his wife Yoko Ono. On their return Chapman produced a gun and shot Lennon.

 

Chapman made no attempt to escape and was taken into custody. Lennon was rushed to the hospital, but to no avail. One of the greatest songwriters was announced dead on arrival. This event happened six years before I was even born, but it still horrifies me to this day.

 

When given a topic like blood, sweat and tears it stands to reason that you must create something which has truly had an impact in your life. The bandwagon is a triptych depicting the events of that horrendous night. The first work is ‘blood’, Yoko as John’s family coming out of the hospital. The second image is ‘sweat’ Mark Chapman waiting in the police car. The final image ‘tears’ shows the fans waiting and praying outside the hospital.

 

Each image has been silkscreened using a stencil method and the colours are kept as shades of themselves. Hopefully the work reminds us of what artists can mean to a society and the loss the world suffered on that day. The memory of John Lennon lives on thanks to the work he did during his life.