Footsball Palace - 21" x 29" - Watercolour
I heard, just the other
day, that Ivan Karp had died. No big surprise, he was 86, even so, a spark has gone. Karp was the often outspoken
owner of OK Harris in New York City. He represented some of the
artists that inspired me during my student years, including: Claes
Oldenburg, Robert Cottingham and Roy Lichtenstein. He was very
helpful to young, emerging artists - giving advice and encouragement
and suggesting other galleries if the work didn't suit him. I met him
in 1984. I was living in the USA and had gone to New York to find a
gallery to represent me. He wanted to show my work. He introduced me
to Malcolm Morley, who had just won the inaugural Turner Prize. I
think he was intrigued to find another realist British painter but
one who worked in watercolours. I thought I'd arrived. In the end I
chose not to show with OK Harris - I didn't like the terms or
conditions and I knew I didn't have the confidence or stamina to be
part of the New York art scene. This painting 'Footsball Palace' was
one of the ones Ivan liked. The Footsball Palace, in Nags Head NC,
with its foosball games, roller rink and bar which only served beer,
has also gone. It really is the end of an era.
