1980′s London

Spitalfields Fruit & vegetable market 1990, Fibreglass relief painted in oils 155 x 109cms

Above is a painted bas-relief of the last days of the fruit & vegetable market in Spitalfields before it relocated further East. The city & Broadgate were rapidly being developed at the time & seemed to tower over the market. The two homeless guys are sitting on discarded wooden crates having a beer & chatting to a trader whilst a guy in the foreground helps himself to a cabbage. My studio was very close to the market & the life in the area was a great subject to work from. This was exhibited in the Whitechapel gallery which led to the series of reliefs on City trading floors.

Above left, Ambrose's boudoir 1989, Fibreglass relief painted in oils 178 x 153cms
Above right, Amateur night at the Vauxhall Tavern 1989 Fibreglass relief in oils 178 x 153 cms

Above (left) Ambrose in his Boudoir, by day he was a male model his modelling card can be seen on his dressing room table, in front of the oval mirror with my reflection in it. He turned heads both as male & female. The bas-relief (right) is a scene from the Vauxhall Tavern at amateur drag night with Glitz or Gary in his full regalia, decked out in sequins & feathers singing on stage, while Lily Savage the compare sat reading 'her' newspaper ignoring the acts. During the late 1980's I became friends with a transvestite Penny/Robert who introduced me to many places & people that inspired a whole series of work about Drag Queens, though sadly many of the people are no longer alive.

All Nations Night Club, Hackney.1989 Fibreglass relief painted in oils 41 x 66cms

Above is a scene from a West Indian night club in Hackney, I went there a few times to the surprise of my students from Hackney College where I was teaching at the time. I tried to stay as invisible as possible so I could sketch & get enough images to create this image, drawing in night clubs is fairly easy as there are always tables tucked away in a dark corner somewhere. Living in the East End it seemed there were endless pockets of very different worlds behind closed doors. This relief was bought by the Homerton Hospital in Hackney.

Self Portrait with smoked salmon & cream cheese bagel 1991. Fibreglass relief painted in oils 150 x 90cms

Left is a self portrait I think the leather jacket & lace up boots are a fairly typical look of the late 1980's. I'm siting in the wooden panelled kitchen of a Georgian house in Spitalfields where I lived at the time. It had a non stop dripping tap over a big butler sink, no heating apart from the calor gas heater on wheels. I'm drinking a coffee from a Hackney Empire mug (you can just make out the 'E' of Empire) & have taken a bite out of a smoked salmon & cream cheese Bagel fresh from Brick Lane Bagel bakery. The actual inspiration for this piece was a portrait by the dutch artist Jan Steen of a girl eating an oyster. I've always liked the mischief in his characters expressions. This relief was exhibited in the Royal Portrait Gallery's BP awards show in 1991 & now keeps my parents company in their home.