There is a peculiar shade of blue that pervades certain parts of Accrington. Not always seen, it can nevertheless be sensed as a strong visual memory over long periods of time and sometimes in other places, far removed from this former manufacturing town in East Lancashire. The blue can be put to various uses. In modern parlance, it is a “positive” force. And the curator invoked it at various times during that strangest of decades, the 1990s.
A photograph of a colour print of a photograph of model aeroplanes found in a photo studios in Bury, Lancs, around 1996. One of the more peculiar images in the museum, the curator can’t think why he commissioned this photograph to be taken. It may point to the lack of interesting creative ideas running around in the UK during the mid 1990s. The print has spent the last 20 years in a portfolio.
Photograph of a print of 4 small drawings depicting the fruits of Richard the Photocopier’s imagination. Drawn around 1998 during a period of great tumult in his private life, the drawings also show the influence of too much Robert Graves. The original drawings were posted to the singer of Super Furry Animals.
A photograph of a damaged colour photocopy of a black and white drawing in dip pen and ink. Coloured ink added by the curator at a later date. The image was originally found in the prospectus of St Martin’s College, London, circa 1992. The curator valued it for its obvious satirical qualities. But, unwittingly, the image also replicated some unspoken desires. To escape Accrington, and to “be” an artist.
