John Lennon Is Not Dead is an exhibition taking place at The Stash Gallery inside Vout-O-Reenee's. The exhibition features contributions from 80 esteemed artists who have either made a new work or unearthed something special to celebrate the 80th anniversary of John Lennon's birth. Four of the artists said a few words about what they're contributing...
1) Vanessa Winch (Artist): "I enjoyed the distraction during lockdown of reading through the lyrics of 'I Am The Walrus' and creating ideas to show off this great John Lennon song. I feel it hasn't dated, still as fresh as when it was written. Full of nonsense for the imagination. I felt my interpretation of the song was just to have fun with it, the Walrus with old style sailor tattoo for the song lyrics. A nod to John Lennon with his glasses in the bottle floating past."
2) Lee Maelzer, (Artist, mostly painter born and based in London.)
"A lot of my work deals with the psychology of absence. The impact and remnants of human activity on its environment. In this instance another pointless death of an undeserving person. The homes and objects of the famous are often fetishised, commodified and sold. Posthumously, they inexplicably gain in value and charisma, as though imbued with something of the people who used them. The famous Lennon piano is a kind of shrine that typifies the hollow monuments - either official or incidental - to loss. Also, I’ve always wanted to make a white painting."
3) Cathy Lomax (artist and director of Transition Gallery) "I am interested in how famous people continue to stay in the public consciousness after their death and how their biographies are often adapted to fit in with contemporary concerns. With this in mind my painting of John Lennon - Reimagined - is after a scene in Sam Taylor Wood’s 2009 film Nowhere Boy which focuses on John Lennon before he became famous. In the film Lennon is played by Aaron Johnson who went on to marry his director and become Aaron Taylor-Johnson. His version of Lennon is more handsome than the real man, ‘beauty and youth over dynamism’, as one reviewer put it. But what he lacks in the brittleness and essence of the real man he makes up for by making a new generation fall in love with (or at least know who) John Lennon is."
