Art and Football (Again)

‘Slavia Praha shirt’  pencil and watercolour/36 x 25cm

The challenge of the representation of drapery is, of course, as old as painting itself, and a recently-acquired football shirt suggested itself as being a suitable subject-object of study one afternoon last week, so out came the pencils and watercolours. Whilst the particular qualities of the contemporary somewhat shiny-surfaced sportswear fabric were perhaps the main motivating factor in getting to work in the active observation of, the allure of a jersey bearing a red star, particularly in the context of such a pleasing design, cannot be denied a certain significance too.

Pin badges representing the famous name of Slavia Praha, from the treasured collection as previously featured in forensic detail, may be found here and here (x2).

Badge(s) of the Day #104 & 105: Slavia Praha

Today featuring further valuable, irresistible additions to the collection in the form of not one object, but two, representing the mighty Slavia Praha, both of a certain ‘hauntological’ vintage, with, indeed, and commemorating the august club’s 75^th anniversary, that to the right of the picture dating from 1968.

Both are fine designs, the left again of a ‘shield’ shape, variations on the basic theme & red, white & blue colour scheme, with the club’s inverted five-point star insignia an essential component.

A previously-acquired Slavia Praha badge may be found here.

World Cup '74 Portrait #157 (Antonio Arias: Chile)

graphite & putty eraser, with watercolour pencil/30x21cm

Our subject today is Antonio Arias, a photo sticker representing whom featured in both the FKS & Panini World Cup ’74 albums that provide the original source material for this drawing project, & who was selected in the official Chile squad for the tournament, where he went on to play in all 3 of his country’s First Round group matches, after which they exited proceedings.

In common with most of the players to feature at the 1974 World Cup (as research reveals), Antonio Arias’s was not a name to register via personal experience of the television coverage, although I do at least recall Chile being present.

Catching up with some of the weekend’s current football developments, 3 matches between some our favourite teams across Europe & closer to home should be acknowledged:

The mighty Strømsgodset’s 4-0 win at Bodø/Glimt in Norway, Bohemians’ 2-0 victory against Slavia in one of the Prague derbies & Gainsborough Trinity’s late comeback 2-1 triumph over Stalybridge Celtic in the Conference North.

Badge of the Day #16 (Slavia Praha)

Today’s exhibit from the European football club pin badge collection is another suitably vintage object, representing Slavia Praha, our particular favourite of the Prague clubs by dint of their wonderful red & white halved shirts with the red star emblem, as reflected in the design of the pin badge: that they are one of the great, enduring names of Czech football with a proud, successful history is a mere detail, as is the fact the team currently languish second-bottom of the Gambrinus Liga following last weekend’s 0 – 3 defeat at Slovácko, although that’s obviously a situation that needs to be improved quickly, as the name of Slavia has been a welcome regular feature in the European club competitions in recent seasons.