avoid radiation while milk bottles melt
outside. The idea of the catastrophic
crescendo was very much ingrained;
terrified at the prospect yet equally
fascinated by the associated imagery
– the mushroom cloud, the fire, the
explosion, the blinding light, the dust, the
terror, and the scale - the sublime. While
this imagery was ingraining itself on my
teenage brain, I started developing my
skills for portraiture with a close friend
who lived up the road. We would spend
Friday evenings painting portraits of
our favourite pop stars in water colour.
He was much better than me. My first
attempt at Carol Decker from T’Pau was
rather unfortunate. From this, however,
I realised what was ‘wrong’ and areas I
needed to work hard at, but the creative
urge and love of painting was definitely
unleashed from here and has never
stopped.
Coming of age in the late 80s we hung
out in a gang at college that you would
probably class the ‘alternatives’ ‘Goths’
‘crusties’ (I can’t bring myself to say
weirdos, but maybe misfits). The boys
had long hair, and the girls had stripy
tights and paraboots. We would all
54
go to an alternative music club called
Le Phonographic the basement of a
shopping centre in Leeds. It was so
exciting getting in there as we were
underage. As you descended the stairs
into the darkness the waft of dry ice and
the sweaty beer soaked carpet met you
half way down. Once past the door staff,
registering the smell meant you were in!!
It felt like home. My friend even brought
some A - Level revision work to go over
when some of the more hardcore/rock
songs were on. I was a part-time fat Goth
because I thought it would be good to
try look like Robert Smith. Couldn’t really
pull it off. I Loved the Cure, Souixsie, and
the shoegazing bands and went to lots
of gigs/ festivals with the gang around
this time. I also think the psychedelic
film projections at Ride and My Bloody
Valentine gigs for example are trickling
into my work or will do in some shape
or form at some point. I also loved
Madonna at this time.
PJ Harvey is a real inspiration to me.
A true artist, evolving all the time and
constantly setting herself new challenges
to overcome. My favourite exhibition
I’ve seen recently was Marlene Dumas
at the Tate Modern. Along with the often
controversial subject matter and social
issues she is exploring, the rawness in
the way she paint s and gets to grips with
the medium is truly inspiring. I couldn’t
wait to get back in the studio. Pat Barker
is one of my favourite novelists. I love
how she can describe the traits of a
personality and the human condition so
succinctly along with the period of time
she often writes in - turn of 20thcentury/
WW1 era.
I love living in Brighton and getting in
the sea in the summer. This city is full
of allsorts of people and it’s easy to get
about, never being too far from a pub
to catch up with a friend over a bottle
or two of red. There are loads of great
galleries in the region like Pallant House,
The Jerwood, Towner, Naked Eye and
all the annual art trails which I regularly
visit. Also, I love working at City College
predominantly with art students which
is a really inspirational and creative
environment to work in that definitely
feeds into my art.
www.patrick-odonnell.co.uk