Recent Works
28th February - 5th March 2011
54 The Gallery
Shepherd Market
London
W1Y 7HP
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| VIII ARMY lino cut |
I believe that the formative periods through which we grow up are punctuated with emotions stimulated by exposure to everyday technology such as cars, aeroplanes, electronic gadgetry and the toys and games relevant to the times. I would say that Airfix models, Action Man, Lego, Meccano and Subbuteo now have iconic status.
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| 'THE DESERT FOX.' SANDPIT 1972 lithograph |
The personalities that we encounter cannot be underestimated as valuable sources of inspiration. My parents, aunts and uncles, and their generation had endured a difficult period in history, and their attitude and outlook were fundamental during my formative years. When reflected upon, these distinct influences become forever associated with and indicative of the ‘times’, and we discover that they have enriched our lives and imagination.
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| ACTION MAN. I lithograph |
Growing up in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Second World War was still very much recent history and part of the public consciousness. For a child such as myself, this was a believable, real-life action adventure that could be played out with the toys and games we had at our disposal, and in playground antics with friends. The effects of the war were still resonant through various aspects of society, and their manifestation through films and comic books from this period enhanced this awareness.
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| MAJOR ENGAGEMENT. BACK GARDEN 1971 lithograph |
My Father was in Burma during the war. The very nature of the uncompromising, totally unfamiliar terrain and the particular savagery of the conflict obviously affected him deeply. However, it was not until the late 1960s that the true scale of his experience manifested itself, in a condition now known as post-traumatic stress. I now appreciate the irony of the situation: a child playing at war, while all around me my life was being shaped by the reality of it.
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| AFRIKA KORPS lino cut |
I spent many a long hour surrounded by various piles of Lego and Meccano, designing and building weird and wonderful fighting machines and futuristic buildings of such outlandish composition that they would collapse at the slightest provocation. My fixation with all things military was realized through my obsession with Airfix models. The inspirational box art of the incomparable Roy Cross set the scene and lent some sense of reality to the potential of the model within. I still refer to this part of my life through washed out Polaroids of family holidays, fading comic books and toy packaging, all of which are of enormous nostalgic value.
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| 'THE SANDS OF IWO JIMA'. BACK GARDEN 1972 lithograph |
Since childhood, I have had a passion for making things, and a deep interest in the craft that is involved. From constructing models and thumbing through comic books and contemporary colour magazines, this enthusiasm has developed through printmaking and the many techniques and mediums it has to offer.
By manipulating and bringing together various printmaking methods, I am able to explore my reference and primary source material. The nature of the various processes that are involved and how they can be combined can be very seductive, representing a creative activity by themselves; this results in images that can then affect the viewer. Notions of size, scale and reproduction can be played with to express significant aspects of my view of life.
Simon Burbidge
January 2011
Simon Burbidge
January 2011
