Footballer Suspended #1
Jun 2022
126 x 182mm
Oil on canvas
The boy in this artwork had previously bought one of my pieces and provided me with a small selection of photos to see if any sparked my interest. Turned out this one did! The colours were so vibrant - red rope against yellow and black football kit. The suspension bondage position is a quite intense one to be in - blood rushes to the head, no contact with the ground to stabilise. I wanted to convey the heightened feeling of this type of activity through bold colour and by removing the actual background - for the boy, he's totally focused on the apparatus holding him up.
Once again, oil paint allowed me to get the intensity and roughness onto the canvas while still having scope to smooth and blur the surrounding space. There are actually two copies of this painting - one smaller and one larger. The larger one is owned by the boy in the painting!