Thursday, December 19, 2019

Doubling- and Tripling-up on the Portraits




‘Nick and Gabrielle Drake, 1971’
graphite and putty eraser on ‘Seawhite’ cartridge paper/30 x 42cm


Having laid firm foundations and taken root now, the Seventies project continues, on this occasion with an invented double portrait, of brother and sister Nick and Gabrielle Drake as they appeared, independently, in 1971 - Nick as photographed for and depicted on the sleeve of his ‘Bryter Layter’ LP and Gabrielle in costume for a promotional image for the ‘UFO’ television series in which she occasionally featured that and the preceding year (see also previous entry).

Following that, a triple portrait, of the actors Tony Anholt, Robert Vaughn and Nyree Dawn Porter as they appeared in character as Paul Buchet, Harry Rule and Contessa Caroline di Contini - ‘The Protectors’, an international crime-fighting agency/team, another television series I recall watching and obviously enjoying as a boy in the early Seventies, which, it transpires, was another Gerry Anderson (co-)production, following on from ‘UFO’. This programme also had a particularly memorable theme tune, ‘Avenues and Alleyways’  - performed by Tony Christie, who had numerous hit records around that time - which is probably something that should also be acknowledged within the scope of the project...



‘The Protectors’
graphite and putty eraser on ‘Seawhite’ cartridge paper/42 x 30cm

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