Facades.

Whilst getting to grips with a new iPad I wanted to explore places I visited during the COVID-19 paintings but didn’t get around to during lockdown.

This re-exploration was sparked by a digital drawing I did for Edgelands Arts for a proposal they were working on. The drawing was of a pub called Hogarths, a rather splendid building on Westgate in Wakefield.

Westgate is a street in Wakefield notorious for it’s nighttime economy – lots of pubs, bars, nightclubs and takeaways along a very short stretch of road through the city centre.

When walking during lockdown I would often venture onto the street as is was now eerily empty but never managed to paint it.

I was struck by the contrast in the buildings between the upper floor and the lower floor: The upper half showing architectural features that hint of a previous grandeur and the lower half dedicated almost entirely to advertising its modern function. I think I tweeted at the time I was fascinated by the mixture of ‘run down’ top half and ‘marketing’ below – a possible analogy for how I was feeling at the time whist getting to grips with the new technology.

The next two images are of buildings that face each other across Westgate. Because of their close proximity to each other, with only the width of a road between them, you cannot stand far enough back to fully take in a complete view face on, so they are created from many different images to form an impossible view.

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9th January 2021 – Unity Hall