I have made a series of new paintings based on Burgess's own drawings. A Clockwork Orange appears to be the only text by Burgess where his distinctive drawings crept into the typed flow of words. As a painter I became intrigued by why imagery might have been present in this book's draft (and recently discovered screenplay), above the masses of other texts Burgess produced in his lifetime. Furthermore Burgess grafittied a copy of the David Pelham designed cover. It has been speculated that Burgess might have been trying to reclaim authorship back to his most (in)famous material, as it risked being subsumed by Kubrick's interpretation. Intriguingly a doodled version of Alex is closer in look to Burgess than Malcom McDowell. I have turned Burgess’s sketched drawings into paintings, colour has been added. Burgess was colour blind, the paintings would have looked different to him, just as Kubrick's film (with all it’s brash colour and imagery) differed in details and feel to Burgess's book.
Artists in the show are Grace Allardyce, Andrew Bracey, James Cook, Miklos Csepely-Knorr, Joe Duffy, Michael Fowdrey, Andrew Glynn, Dave Griffiths, Lisa Joel, Mohammed Koosha and Andrea Zapp.
Exhibition continues Friday 8 to Sunday 10 June.
Hosted by International Anthony Burgess Foundation, Engine House, Chorlton Mill, 3 Cambridge Street, M1 5BY
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