If anything epitomises a certain era it is UK wrestling and, in particular, the TV coverage in the early 1980s. World of Sport was presented by Dickie Davies, featured here as Apocalypse Davies while Marc ‘Rollerball’ Rocco, Giant Haystacks and Kendo Nagasaki are all immortalised in acrylic and oil on canvas.
Artist Luke Haines has explained, “in the late 1970s my dad would take me to the football. We would watch fourth division Portsmouth. Except we wouldn’t. My dad, not a violent man, would watch the fights going off at the Fratton end. Around this time he took me to see my first wrestling bout [with] Kendo Nagasaki versus Giant Haystacks.”
That’s not to say Uncanny Island is a niche show about testosterone and sport in a bygone era. Haines’ way with abstract portraiture, brushy style and freehand glyphs add an intentional absurdism that should also appeal to fans of South Park and papier-mâché. Haines favours smaller features on oversized heads that cartoonify the paintings in line with the surreality of the subject matter. Seemingly random cameos from Mark E Smith and Emlyn Hughes also add an air of Cold War Steve. Random until you see a white Christmas Tree in the corner (it feels it is important it is white somehow) where Haines has painstakingly painted every ex-member of post-punk band The Fall with singer (you guessed it) Mark E Smith at the top.
Uncanny Island is showing at Eston Arts Centre until July 31st. Check for opening times.
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