The Drawing of Dave...

graphite & putty eraser/30x20cm

Continuing in retro vein with the sequence of drawings processed from images sourced from the pages of a 1970-vintage football annual (or, more precisely, enlarged photocopies of such originals, thus a little degraded in quality & tonal subtleties).

As distinct from the previous examples to have served as the source images of the drawings, this photograph appears to have been illuminated with a flash rather than bright natural light, lending a slightly different aesthetic & affording the subject the luxury of not having to squint into the camera, thus allowing the eyes to present themselves & be observed more clearly, not retreating into the depths of shadow. Note again the particular ‘photographic’ cropping of the image, focussing intently upon the face.

On this occasion, our portrait subject happens to be one David/Dave Wilson, another of our denizens of the lower divisions, largely unsung outside of their own localities & sometimes even within, then in the midst of a comparatively short sojourn at Walsall (quickly dating the annual) before eventually finding more of an established home at Chesterfield where he played into the mid-1970s before his Football League career came to a close: as ever, in nostalgic mode (for a time beyond consciousness & memory, not least of the individual in question), one muses upon the ephemerality of such matters, & those of fashions for certain flourishes of facial hair, like extensive sideburns, for an obvious example prevalent at the time & as sported here by the subject - not quite Noddy Holder but well on the way.