Drawing on Memory...

coloured pencil & putty eraser/20x30cm

Following on from a recent post extolling the virtues of the live sound, as experienced, of Vic Godard & Subway Sect, I was thus inspired, albeit somewhat after the fact (but that, in ‘slow’ mode, is the habitual TOoT way), to seek out a photographic image of Vic from which to process a drawing in appreciative recognition of having enjoyed such entertainment & the great man’s talents.

Emerging, then, from the plethora of marks made, with coloured pencil (a quite recalcitrant & thus more labour-intensive medium than most, but of course it’s all about the work of art), the drawing process results in a representation of the figure of Vic Godard in performance, with guitar, the form of his face described colourfully spot- & high-lit in the manner of the Expressionist portraits of Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, for example – the whole image, indeed, being saturated with an intensity of artificial hues, which feature informs the (endeavours of the) drawing in turn.

Regarding, incidentally, matters of sartorial style, it might be noted that Vic is seen here favouring what might be described as the artist-known-as-TOoT’s signature style or traditional dress, on or off-duty, of shirt, tie & V-necked jumper: old school (as in 'worn from the time of') but always on the money.

Soundtrack:

With a musical subject providing grist to the drawing mill, it seems most appropriate to reactivate the old 'Soundtrack' feature that has traditionally attached itself to many a post, having been rather remiss in letting the acknowledgement of such habitual & integral accompaniment to the drawing process slide & pass unremarked. For the drawing in question, then, across the course of the various sessions devoted to, we have been listening to, with a few old favourites included (although, despite the presence of a couple of post-punk peers, not actually any Vic Godard & Subway Sect) & making a reappearance:

Scritti Politti ‘White Bread Black Beer’
Belle & Sebastian ‘Write About Love’
Wire ‘The A List’
She & Him ‘Volume Two’
Laura Veirs ‘Year of Meteors’