Art and Celebrity

Clint was leant over his decks, the gallery lights were dimmed and the Inspiral Carpets came on by request. "Lets bring on the Boon army" he said. His wife, Charlie, turned to me, rolled her eyes and said "I have to go home with that". That really made me smile and like them all the more.
Thursday night we had the unveiling of the Portrait of Clint Boon. Yet the night wasn't about Clint, it was to promote Adam Hayley and build his reputation. Adam is patently aware that his portraits of random people aren't newsworthy. He has set out to find people to help him make people take notice.
Adam Approached Clint when he saw him at the Salford degree show. I know now that Clint is a genuinely decent guy who has thrown all he has at this to help Adam get into the papers. Maybe that's the reason you are reading this.
Georgie and Paul who run PDC Copyprint across the road saw Clint unloading his gear on the day. Being Inspiral fans, Georgie printed off a photo of Clint and ran out onto the pavement with it in her hand. The wind blew it away and she stopped, felt a little sheepish, and skulked back into the shop. Clint went to pick up the photo, went inside and signed it for them, "Keep on Copyin" it read. They were clearly chuffed and have put it onto their facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5983051&id=27406035402&ref=mf
What is our fascination with celebrity? Why do so many news papers sell on the strength of something happening to a famous face? The famous nearly always have something remarkable about them. Something extra ordinary that makes them more interesting than us lesser mortals. The era of the pointless celebrity I think is coming to an end. Trashy mags that will highlight Tom Cruises' sweaty pits or Cheryl Coles weight loss are falling in popularity.
In my mind the artists with Mooch have extra ordinary talents, so why aren't they famous? Well it takes time and they have to want it. Those artists like Damien Hirst and Tracy Emin had superb publicists and were incredible innovative in their artistic concepts. The tent of former lovers and the Shark in Formaldehyde were brilliant stunts. Like it or not, their breakthrough pieces were remarkable.
So what about the future of mooch and its artists? Well expect the unexpected. Mooch will be grabbing the headlines but not because of a cheap stunt. Pure talent and innovative artwork shown off and displayed in new and different ways is what will bring Mooch to the forefront of art lovers minds. I think with some artists, like Adam, I strongly believe he will be a famous name in the art world and break into the the consciousness of those who have never been into an art gallery.
I once overheard an old dear talking to her friend waiting for the train at Bramhall station. Both of them unaware their brief chat was going to have such a profound effect on me. One said to the other, "Oh look, the train is coming", to which the other replied, "the train was always coming".

Its a Boon for Mooch art

He mentioned it just in passing. A cursory comment that I didn't take to seriously. "Oh yeah, I'm doing a portrait for Clint Boon". I'd heard of Clint but wasn't sure anything was going to come of it. Adam Hayley says these things in his typically modest but excited way. He won the Mooch Artist of the year last year and already had a head start in promoting himself. He'd met with Clint a couple of times, taken some photos and worked out his angle on the portrait. The portraits bring out the character in the individual so Adam needs to understand that. He automatically injects this into the brush strokes on canvas and it is remarkable what he can do.
So the result is a night unveiling the said portrait at the gallery on Thursday the 25th. Clint has been fantastic and is a true man of the people. He is a champion of emerging talent so we are on the same wavelength.
He is bringing his vinyl along, and playing some tunes while his lovely wife serves her home made cakes and tea. I'd never heard of his wife's business before but she is putting on regular events at TV21 bar where she makes tea parties cool again with vintage crockery and great music.
Adam is entering the painting into the National portrait gallery awards in March so It could give him a £25k prize and a springboard to a great arty career. The event will hopefully raise his profile so that people know of this great talent.
Fingers crossed it will go well, Clint will be mentioning it on the radio so I hope we can deal with the numbers. Actually I hope people come, the worst fear of anyone organising an event it that people simply don't care.