World Cup '74 Portrait #30 (Ruben Ayala: Argentina)

 

 

graphite & putty eraser, with watercolour pencil/30x21cm



Having a Re-think/Re-draw Again #3: World Cup '74 #3 v3

graphite, cloured pencil & putty eraser/30 x 20cm

Presenting, eventually, what is the third version of the third source/subject in the World Cup ’74 stamps/stickers drawing project, in the form now of what has become the standard mode of representation, the A4-printed pixelated original (two versions of) processed within a grid matrix.
In this particular instance, & as previously mooted for such a purpose, the medium used is coloured pencil rather than the habitual monochrome graphite, for the reason that the portrait subject, Ruben Ayala, is one of the few footballers who played at the tournament that I can actually remember from the televised coverage as witnessed, at least by name if not necessarily deed, & who also features within the stamp/sticker collections, thus, it is considered, such memory requires acknowledging, highlighting, aesthetically: such players suggest that they should be separated from the homogenous, unrecalled or never-known mass of the generality of the competition, their representations should be more vivid, even if, ironically, the visual experience came via the medium of black & white television.

Research reveals that Ruben Ayala, of the flowing dark locks, played all 90 minutes of each of Argentina’s six matches at the 1974 World Cup &, as previously noted, scoring one goal, the third in his country’s 4-1 First Round group game victory over Haiti.

Having a Re-think/Re-draw #3: World Cup '74 #3 (Ruben Ayala)

coloured pencil & putty eraser/30x20cm

Presenting the third in the series of drawings based upon, & as the initial point of reference, the stamp/sticker collections issued by FKS & Panini to celebrate the then-upcoming 1974 football World Cup, ‘hauntologically’-rich objects & repositories of memories of the time (specifically, & more generally of the decade of childhood-into-youth).

The immediate visual source from which the drawing was processed was actually an A4 colour print of a digital scan of the original stamp, this image thus considerably scaled-up & consequently significantly pixelated, breaking up into a horizontal-vertical grid of constituent squares of an individual & somewhat ‘unmixed’ nature in terms of colour (like digital ‘pointillism’) which in turn impacts upon the mark-making & appearance of the drawing, which attempts an interpretation rather than a slavish copying.

The subject of the drawing process thus resolves itself into a representation, filtered through time as it were, of Ruben Ayala of the Argentinian squad, one of those names/players I do actually recall from watching the televised coverage of the tournament, cutting a rather distinctive figure as he did with his dark, flowing locks & scoring the third goal in Argentina’s 4 - 1 First Round victory over Haiti.

Also presented is an image of the drawing at the point to which it had progressed at the time of the re-think a couple of Saturdays ago, done in the original style, thus allowing something of a comparison between the old & new approaches.