graphite & putty eraser, with watercolour pencil/30x21cm
The latest subject in the Project is a depiction of Carlos Babington of Argentina, the second of what should eventually be four ‘cheats’ over the course of the
project – essentially names particularly remembered from experience of the
televised coverage of the 1974 World Cup but who appeared in neither the FKS or
Panini sticker albums previewing/commemorating the event, in which context they
become, in fact, the most ‘ghostly’ of all, having no physical presence in the
form of image or text, leaving (or being afforded, through omission) no trace
of their participation via such enduring artefacts of memorabilia.
This being the case, an original image must be sourced from elsewhere
in order to construct a ‘sticker’ from which to work, with the internet
providing as usual in such times of need – something of a slightly
unsatisfactory fudge, given the physical nature of all the other original
source material, the hauntological objects of the stickers, but in such an
instance it seems more important to leave a drawn trace of a remembered name
than include an ‘unknown’ in its stead.
The name of Carlos Babington might well have proved memorable particularly
for its invertedly-exotic Englishness in an Argentinian context, but the
records show he enjoyed something of a profile during the World Cup, playing in
5 of Argentina’s 6 matches (missing only the first of their second phase
fixtures, the 0 – 4 hammering by Holland), scoring in the first, the 2 – 3 defeat
to Poland, & being booked in this & the subsequent two games.
No comments:
Post a Comment